Labels: Warp
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Seeing as Mr. Bress reviewed something by these folks not so long ago and seemed to rather enjoy it, I came perilously close to just slipping this in an envelope and despatching it to his “workplace” that is WAS Records in Nottingham. Fortunately I chose to slip it into my CD player instead, and became enchanted by this rather fantastic album. Also it means I don’t have to correct all of Mr. Bress’ punctuation.
The drawback of me reviewing this though is that I don’t have the wealth of reference points that Mr. Bress does. So where he would start calling this “wicked” and “amazing” and comparing it to some French pop band from 1963 who released one 7″ that was only heard by 25 people who wore their beret’s at a slightly jaunty angle, I will just have to settle for telling you that it is wicked and amazing. 45 minutes and 14 tracks of haunting yet lovely pop music that is set to a backdrop that varies between strummed acoustic guitar, occasional drumming, and simple electronic tunes and noises. The female vocals are strong yet subtle, reminding me of Saturday Night Looks Good To Me (told you my reference points were thin – that band openly admits to recreating age old pop music) in it’s pleasance, yet with a subtle darkness underpinning it. Truly captivated is me. I have to give special mention to “Man Is Not A Bird” which features an ace kind of glacial shimmery noise that I haven’t heard on any record since the Antarctica LP. I love that sound. I have no idea what makes it though.
Concluding this rather inept review, I shall merely say that I love this album and that it will join the likes of Manitoba and be one of those records that I always put on just prior to midnight on Friday whilst nursing a whiskey and just stumbling around on the internet listening to spaced out music on my headphones. What a life I lead.