Labels: The Static Cult
Review by: Oli Saunders
I couldn’t be more in the mood for this right now. Parton Kooper Planetarium are two ex members of Breasts (with an amalgamation of accompaniments) and sound very much like a continuation along roughly the same path. I say roughly, however, because a crucial factor is that they have reverted back to actually writing proper songs, rather than whatever the hell Breasts were doing on that last album they made. We retain the experimentation, the slow depressing nature and vocals. But tracks are more structured and just work much better.
Highlights include ‘For Pioneers’, with its very minimalistic approach and haunting female vocals. ‘So Below’ and ‘Gasoline’ were both teasers for the new album and remain favourites of mine; the latter seems to be building up into something for its minute duration but then suddenly fizzles out with the next track sounding completely different. This is what I mean when I say that at times ‘Glass And Bones’ still feels like a bunch of random songs thrown together, rather than a fluid album. The band must know this of course; it’s a result of the nature of the music in which variance and originality are a high priority.
Parton Kooper Planetarium are rewriting the rulebook on slowcore (whether this is actually slowcore could be debated to be honest) by just doing whatever the hell they want but to a very high standard. Note that this is out on VINYL. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: check out everything on this label.
29th January 2012