Labels: Oscarson
Review by: Andy Malcolm
You what mate?! I would never ever have assumed that in 2014, a label would reissue the final Kepler album on vinyl. In fact, until I found out about this reissue I didn’t even know that Attic Salt existed, and Fuck Fight Fail is a classic album as far as I am concerned so I don’t know how that happened. On Attic Salt, originally released in 2005, Kepler rounded out their sound from the miserable, resigned slowness exhibited on FFF and it’s follow up, although the basic elements remain in the place. The vocals are still soft and drift with the music,whilst the overall flavour most definitely remains as autumnal melancholy. It’s a nigh on perfect record for a lazy October Sunday I have to say. The album meanders along gently, with perfectly crafted song following perfectly crafted song. I don’t know what prompted Kepler to move their sound on to something more in the thrall of the 70s than the 90s (although of course they never completely escape their roots), but it certainly works, and it shows a band that were keen to explore a bit and not really care whether any of their “fans” came along with them or not. I suspect if I had heard this in 2005 I would have been given it the skunk eye and moved swiftly on to something I understood, but fortunately in the following 10 years I have managed to get my ears acquainted with music that exists outside of my once limited spectrum, and this sounds spot on to me. An easy listen, a total delight.