Labels: Jonson Family
Review by: Andy Malcolm
In one of the weirder, obscurer musical turns of my year, a new 7″ from Stanton has turned up on my door step. Just a couple of weeks ago I was engaged in highbrow musical conversation with my esteemed Collective colleague, Luke Younger, and the topic turned to Hirameka Hi Fi. At which stage I described to Mr. Younger the time I saw them in Leicester approximately 18 months prior. After a brief resume of their performance I by chance mentioned to him “And there was a support band called Stanton, they were quite good. I have no idea what happened to them though”. Luke said: “Stanton? My band is playing with them”. Cripes. A week later, I stumbled across an e-mail in my inbox from a fellow claiming to be a member of the aforementioned band. Coincidence? Or was this man lurking in the shadows, listening in on our sordid conversation? But I guess we’ll never know.
Wait up! I’m gonna review this now, for real! Side A has a song on it. God knows what it is called, there are no lyrics or song titles on this minimal white packaging. Clear vinyl too by the way. Anyways, it starts off subdued and mellow, with very distinct vocals. I am not sure who they remind me of but they are rather excellent, semi-spoken / sung, with a rolling bass and repetitive guitar work that brings to mind the Lapse. It all suddenly surges into a noisier rock out of a chorus in early Jehu-esque manner. A good blend of styles on show. Nice moody breakdown to end the song also as things descend into squealing feedback. Side B makes me go hmm. As in “hmm, I think I’ll listen to the other side rather than this one”. Eerie intro to a rumbling song that is dragged to earth by some rather off-key, distorted vocals that are WAY too high in the mix. Musically it’s pretty decent, I just wasn’t into the vocal side of things on this track.
250 of these babies in production. You want it for that A side.