Pattern Is Movement - Stowaway - CD (2005)

Labels: nfi
Review by: Ian Scanlon

This is more like it, off kilter indie rock, clean guitars twiddling away, keyboards in the

background, this is reminding me of Talking Heads, Soft Boys, and XTC. Opening track

“Maple” is a circular delight with instruments popping out weirdly from all angles of the

stereo spectrum! (MAAAN) and percussion that sounds like people banging tin trays on

their head. It’s great! Eventually the guy with the fuzz pedal shows up and things get all

psychedelic but it’s great! Not too overdone. This is like a totally wired version of

Pavement. Sharp angles not slackness, awesome. There is the occasional tang of math’ in the

air… but it’s more reminiscent of a snappy Van Der Graff Generator than yet another piss

weak Don Cab’/ Shellac retread (Cf every band with a long name from the UK in the last

couple of years). Constant lyrical refrains make up most of the tunes, echoing the

repeating instrumental figures and occasionally counterpointing some very sweet melodies

slipping in via strings and mellotrons that swoop in and out of the tracks in a manner not

dissimilar to Stereolab’s later stuff. They actually sound like a very American take on

Stereolab, rather than taking French pop and ringing it through kraut rock, this band are

taking Americana / classic American pop and picking out the repetition and the rhythmic

quality and running with it. There’s great use of acoustic picking, raggedy piano, banjo’s,

and slide guitar. It’s really nice to hear a guy singing this way, kind of a natural

timbre, not yelling or screaming, more declamatory, not that affected either, unlike. I

would be very interested in seeing this band play live. It’s kind of like if you sobered

the Mae Shi / Rapider than Horsepower and said “make something that will confuse but not

outright frighten my mum”. Good to see some people checking out what else was happening in

the early 80’s apart from bloody Gang of Four. If you like Menomena, Pinback, or any of

those type of chaps, I’d recommend searching this out.