I think we can agree then that this is a strange but beguiling record; content to live by its own insular rules, seemingly intent at carving out some peculiar nest in pop’s Yggdrasil.
I think we can agree then that this is a strange but beguiling record; content to live by its own insular rules, seemingly intent at carving out some peculiar nest in pop’s Yggdrasil.
http://www.hardlyart.com http://www.konkurrent.nl
A quiet LP, sparse and at times but it just keeps growing on me, maybe because it’s so damned simple not to say cussed. The opener, Bermuda Triangle is such an incongruous track: quiet, reserved, cautious, stop-start… you wonder why it’s starting off the record. Talk about inverting the received wisdom of packing your hits upfront, and fair play to Deep Time, I suppose. I’m still not sure what to make of the track though…
I might as well say now that this introspective, well-crafted and very sparse sound is what you get pretty much all the way through. The record doesn’t pick up any noticeable pace or power till the third track, Coleman, ups the ante, and even then we’re just talking a gentle stroll. Because of its simplicity the record is very reliant on the girl’s soft, caressing voice to carry the muse. And she does, she has a great, warm empathic vocal, a bit like Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier. This helps a lot. She can carry a melody well too – sometimes allowing her vocal to become embellished with elaborate swoops, dives and other aural curlicues that sound out of place with what’s gone before: as in the poppy Cold Rush or Horse, (pretty much the only moments where the shackles are thrown off) .The songs also have a knack of repeating their message till you just start repeating it back as if in a daze – it’s like learning a language by rote, or learning to ride a bike, in nice easy stages… After a while nigh it’s on impossible to drive from the back of your mind if you get sucked into its vibe.
I think we can agree then that this is a strange but beguiling record; content to live by its own insular rules, seemingly intent at carving out some peculiar nest in pop’s Yggdrasil. They’ve picked a good name for their band then, I can imagine them churning out records like this ad infinitum.