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Some Crap About the Future could be Before and After Science Eno but soon settles down to be trademark Electric President; winsome vocals, acoustic–based melodies and subtle time-shifts augmented by effects galore.
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Some Crap About the Future could be Before and After Science Eno but soon settles down to be trademark Electric President; winsome vocals, acoustic–based melodies and subtle time-shifts augmented by effects galore.
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Electric President – Electric President
I like weird albums. You all know that. And, consequently I like Electric President, as they seem to have made an interesting, ever so slightly weird album here. Their opener on this LP, Good Morning Hypocrate is an amalgam of a lovely sliding acoustic melody, rather nasal reedy vocals and a very strange conglomeration of instruments and sounds (making up a belting psychedelic refrain on this track). There’s also a wonderful spacey mid section that is very reminiscent of early Mercury Rev and something off a Murcof album. And following that blast comes another one; Insomnia boasts a similar fusion of bubbling electronic timpani and gentle wistful melody. The lyrics put one in mind of the mildly anarchic, self-centred musings in Copeland’s Generation X (but then, aren’t they always with these kind of records?). Anyway the track builds up to a suitably hymnal ending. Great stuff so far.
Ten Thousand Lines starts with a grinding guitar scrawl and then proceeds in a stop-start manner, lots of quiet voices and funny noises are interspersed with guitar-induced noise. Eventually a languorous chorus asserts itself, gently pulling the song to a close. Grand Machine No. 12 starts off like a very early Pink Floyd track before settling down to an acoustic strum (albeit a strum that incorporates a great deal of bubbling noises). Again the lyrics display Copeland/Fitzgerald-style musings. Still, it’s a pleasant enough affair, if somewhat maudlin in tone.
What else do we have? Well, Hum is a gentle acoustic love song augmented with a backwards tape loops and a Casio organ sound very reminiscent of Cope’s When I Walk through the Land of Fear. It’s the best track so far on this album, being simple and direct in its lyrical content. The rather curiously named Snow on Dead Neighbourhoods is a more up-tempo affair, with a bracing drum pattern adding a spicy counterpoint to the dreamy nature of the song. Some Crap About the Future could be Before and After Science Eno but soon settles down to be trademark Electric President; winsome vocals, acoustic–based melodies and subtle time-shifts augmented by effects galore. It is very affecting stuff, almost getting into MBV territory at times.
Didn’t someone else write a song called Metal Fingers? Answers on a postcard to Incendiary please… anyway, it matters not. Electric President for the record, have a song called Metal Fingers, which begins with a solemn computerised bell tolling. A lovely lazy melody soon speeds up (aided by some bleeping electronica) to be a very devotional, love-sick teenager sort of number. The bell returns to ring the track out. We Were Never Built to Last is a maudlin affair, build on some crunchy synthesizers and wailing guitar. There are some shatteringly loud moments though, that come as a welcome respite. Last up is Farewell, which starts with some brilliant, bubbly space-rock guitar run straight off a Cosmic Joker album. Obviously, calling the last track Farewell does give an indication on how it’s going to sound. You’re not wrong.
Still, as with everything else here, it’s an affecting piece boasting a lovely slow burning melody and there is a moment of mind-crushingly loud guitar to stop everyone resting too easy.
A good and very enjoyable album.
Words: Richard Foster.