Category: Reviews (Page 178 of 200)

HOLY GHOST! Dynamics

1 November 2013 /

The core of HOLY GHOST! are New York duo Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel.

They released their debut full-length eponymous album in 2011 following the 6 track ‘Static On The Wire’ EP a year earlier. HOLY GHOST! gained a fair amount of musical media attention by using LCD SOUNDSYSTEM main man James Murphy as co-producer on ‘Holy Ghost!’ and also for the cheeky shot-for-shot remake of NEW ORDER’s ‘Confusion’ video for their own single ‘I Will Come Back’ with legendary producer Arthur Baker reprising his original role in the new promo.

By its nature, electronic music can sometimes be criticized for lacking feeling and emotion due to the way its generated and sometimes it’s easy to forget that many stellar synth-based acts from KRAFTWERK to CABARET VOLTAIRE and from NEW ORDER to ULTRAVOX have all at times used traditional instruments alongside the synthesizers and sequencers that they are more readily known for.

The first thing that strikes you about the music of HOLY GHOST! is that it breathes… and this is down to the use of live drums and overdubbed percussion on most of their tracks. This is obviously not lost on the band, as by calling their second album ‘Dynamics’, they are acknowledging the fact that their music is not quite as rigid as some of their peers. The band do blatantly wear their influences on their sleeves, stemming from the ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ aping bridge on early single ‘It’s Not Over’ through to elements of OMD, Tangerine Dream and even FLEETWOOD MAC(!) on their current work. Thankfully, the NEW ORDER influence has reaped major dividends for HOLY GHOST! Thus securing them a support act with the Manchester legends earlier in the year on their US tour.

Album opener ‘Okay’ is probably the most synthetic track on ‘Dynamics’, taking its melodic cues from OMD and KRAFTWERK’s ‘Neon Lights’ with a generous smattering of “Pew! Pew!” disco syndrums thrown into the mix for good measure, it gives a pretty good introduction of what’s to follow. Lyrically the track revolves around a drunk dialing ex-couple and by the end of the track it becomes apparent that despite a large amount of alcohol being involved, feelings still remain between the two.

The epic / hypnotic ‘Dumb Disco Ideas’follows and really throws the kitchen sink into the mix, funky Hohner clavinets which recall TALKING HEADS’ ‘Life During Wartime’ battle with arpeggiated synths, vocoders and overlayed live percussion. Although the track starts to lose momentum towards the end of its 8 minute length, it’s certainly worth sticking around to the 5 minute mark when a funky mid-period Thomas Dolby staccato synth horn riff joins the huge range of other sounds.

‘Changing Of The Guard’ has a real New Wave sound about it, recalling Robert Palmer’s dabbling with synths on tracks like ‘Looking For Clues’. Probably the most hooky track on the album, the vocal chorus melody provides a real earworm which burrows itself into your brain after a single listen and makes you wonder why more acts don’t reference music from that era which isn’t quite so obvious. ‘It Must Be The Weather’ starts with a lo-fi Roland drum machine, synth arpeggios and lush LITTLE DRAGON-style synth swoops before expanding into a widescreen epic track which is surely begging for use in a film such as Drive which wonderfully showcased artists such as COLLEGE and KAVINSKY. The track ends beautifully with swooping octaved synths and a final flourish for the drum machine at its climax.

The instrumental ‘1 For Edgar’ provides a mid-point break and you could wager that the ‘Edgar’ in question could be Edgar Froese from TANGERINE DREAM, primarily because this track features the sort of electric piano beloved of the band. Further strengthening the case is the fact that album closer ‘Cheap Shots’ takes it’s cues from seminal TANGERINE DREAM track ‘Love On A Real Train’, it’s cyclical sequencer introduction recalling the hugely influential ‘Risky Business’ soundtrack piece. Once the latter track gets up and running, the NEW ORDER influence takes over with octaved Barney Sumner-ish vocals on the “your friends will desert you” lines.

After what’s gone before, the title ‘Don’t Look Down’ has you fearing that HOLY GHOST! have taken their retro obsession a little too far and are about to blow it with a GO WEST cover! But if anything, this tips things over the edge even further with what has been described in another review as being similar to the ‘Mannequin’ theme song! The track showcases another OMD type synth riff, ‘Heroes’ infinite guitar and a cheeky vocal sample which references the outro to FLEETWOOD MAC’s ‘Everywhere’. On paper, this shouldn’t really work and sounds like a real Frankenstein’s monster idea of a track, but again, the audacity of throwing together such disparate elements surprisingly works.

In summary, it is really desperately hard to talk about HOLY GHOST! without mentioning other artists, but what they do well is to assimilate all of their influences and produce electronic music which is a) unashamedly melodic and b) not afraid to take risks by not immediately going for the obvious steals / references. The album may well have some hipsters scratching their beards, shaking their heads and running for their FACTORY FLOOR records, but you will be hard pushed to find another album this year which celebrates the heritage of electronic and new wave music in such an unashamed and joyful way.

‘Dynamics’ is released by DFA on CD, vinyl and download

http://holyghostnyc.net/

https://www.facebook.com/HolyGhostNYC

https://twitter.com/HolyGhostNYC

Text by Paul Boddy
1st November 2013

SIN COS TAN Afterlife

28 October 2013 /


Less than a year after their eponymous debut, SIN COS TAN are back with another quality collection of emotive songs reflecting further broken dreams but in a slightly lighter setting where there are “spirits awoken”.

With a surplus of material from those first sessions, Juho Paalosmaa and Jori Hulkkonen have capitalised on the momentum of their working chemistry in the studio by recording a swift follow-up. Entitled ‘Afterlife’, this second volume expands the instrumental palette and this is signified by the album’s opening gambit ‘Limbo’.

With its conventional bass guitar mantra, prominent ivories and staccato organ lines, it has the air of Bryan Ferry who coincidentally had a song with the same name. But despite the musical shift, as ever with Hulkkonen’s work, he can’t help slipping a classic PET SHOP BOYS styled middle eight into proceedings. Meanwhile, Paalosmaa is a little more relaxed than before, resulting in their most defined pop statement yet.

Although initially a more of a classic synthpop pairing with Paalosmaa handling the majority of the lyrical chores and Hulkkonen focussing on production, ‘Afterlife’ sees the duo combine their roles in a more collaborative fashion with a much looser feel than its predecessor. The opening third is delightful with ‘Part Of Me’ being a natural progression of sunnier tunes such as ‘Calendar’ from the SIN COS TAN debut while ‘Ritual’ gives an interesting Nordic interpretation on how to use a Latin shuffle while dressing the structure with pretty but understated melodies that recall CHINA CRISIS.

Despite this being a less nocturnal offering, darkness does have its place on ‘Afterlife’ and the middle section adopts a much sombre shade. The sparse ‘Heat’ premieres this darker side but it doesn’t go the full hog until ‘Destroyer’ which amusingly appears to have borrowed its verse vocal topline from JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE’s ‘Sexy Back’ or LADYHAWKE’s ‘Professional Suicide’, depending on your mindset! ‘Fair Rewards’ continues this maturer pace while ‘Heart On A Plate’ adopts a beatier groove.

The next trio of numbers however spring the album back to life. Hulkkonen first found fame as part of TIGA & ZYNTHERIUS back in 2001 at the height of the Electroclash movement; partly recalling that era, ‘Avant Garde’features Casey Spooner from the scene’s flag bearers FISCHERSPOONER. One of the album’s key tracks, it’s a moment which Paalosmaa described as “a very cool honour”. ‘Avant Garde’ itself though is not club oriented at all though, much more like THE CURE being produced by PET SHOP BOYS with Spooner providing a suitably cynical snarl to contrast Paalosmaa’s lost boy cry.

Meanwhile, the wondrous ‘Television’ intros with some Hooky six string bass and jumps into a danceable number that wouldn’t sound of place on NEW ORDER’s ‘Technique’ with CHIC-styled rhythm guitars syncopated against Moroder-esque sequencers. The following ‘Moonstruck’ ends this marvellous trilogy with a gorgeous ballad in the Tennant/Lowe tradition, smothered in synthetic strings while driven by a steady drum machine.

To close ‘Afterlife’, there is the building drone drama of ‘Burning Man’, probably the starkest thing Paalosmaa and Hulkkonen have attempted together so far. It would be fair to say that while there isn’t a track like ‘Trust’ on the album, ‘Afterlife’ is a colourful but no less impassioned body of work.

Paalosmaa still sounds emblazoned in sorrow but the adoption of more live instruments adds some brightness to the SIN COS TAN sound. While the spectre of PET SHOP BOYS looms, CHINA CRISIS and post-Roxy BRYAN FERRY are pointers to this more organic but still synth-friendly record.

Special thanks to Tom Riski of Solina Records

‘Afterlife’ is released by Solina Records in Europe and Sugarcane Records for the rest of the world on CD, vinyl and download with a street date of 22nd November 2013 for the UK

http://sincostan.net/

https://www.facebook.com/homeofsincostan

http://solinarecords.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28th October 2013

ICEHOUSE White Heat: 30 Hits

26 October 2013 /

One of Australia’s best acts of the post-punk era ICEHOUSE have been collected on a 2CD+DVD compilation ‘White Heat: 30 Hits’ released by Repertoire Records for European consumption.

Part of a reissue campaign for the ICEHOUSE catalogue, the label also recently reissued the SPARKS and Giorgio Moroder back catalogues. Officially sanctioned by ICEHOUSE’s mainman and vocalist Iva Davies, it documents ICEHOUSE’s recorded career from late 1980 when they started out as FLOWERS.

They were forced to change their name due to an American act having the same moniker; so for a new name, Davies chose the striking title track of FLOWERS’ debut album ‘Icehouse’. Often overshadowed internationally at the time by INXS and MEN AT WORK, ICEHOUSE were however far more interesting, blending an artful European aesthetic with the Aussie love of more straightforward rock ’n’ roll.

ICEHOUSE’s early cinematic videos were directed by Russell Mulcahy who also worked with ULTRAVOX and DURAN DURAN on their iconic promos before going on to make the film ‘Highlander’. Meanwhile ICEHOUSE’s 1986 album ‘Measure For Measure’ featured notable guest musicians such as Brian Eno and JAPAN’s Steve Jansen.

ICEHOUSE were one of the first acts to employ Moroder apprentice Keith Forsey as a producer before his massive success with British acts who broke America such as Billy Idol, THE PSYCHEDLIC FURS and SIMPLE MINDS. Indeed, it was SIMPLE MINDS who gave ICEHOUSE their UK break by inviting them to be their support act in 1981 while later on, Davies and Co supported David Bowie on the European outdoor leg of the ‘Serious Moonlight’ tour in 1983.

Featuring the line-up of Iva Davies, John Lloyd, Anthony Smith and Keith Walsh, the quartet’s first single ‘Can’t Help Myself’ was a bizarre but enjoyable mix of THE EAGLES and ULTRAVOX. The follow-up ‘We Can Get Together’ had more of an new wave vibe to it, but the song which got ICEHOUSE noticed by a wider audience in the UK was the chilling, synth laden ‘Icehouse’.

With the misty video’s premiere on youth arts TV show ‘Riverside’, ‘Icehouse’ added a strange offbeat and the mannerisms of Gary Numan before Blitzing out for the song’s flanged guitar climax. With its Eurocentric overtones, ‘Icehouse’ was easily as good as anything on VISAGE’s eponymous debut.

Despite the new found profile in Europe, Davies dissolved the band and decided to record the second ICEHOUSE album ‘Primitive Man’ essentially as a solo project in Los Angeles with Keith Forsey in 1982. With the accessibility of new digital technology such as the Linn Drum Computer, his songs started to change with a more precise sensibility creeping in. The first single from these sessions was the magnificent ‘Hey Little Girl’.

Echoing the popularity of New Romantic styled acts such as JAPAN and the programmed pop of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, ‘Hey Little Girl’ polarised listeners with some accusing it of being a lavish ROXY MUSIC rip-off while others praised it for its evocative, dancefloor charm. While the single was perfection in itself, the 7 minute ‘Australian Disco Mix’ on the 12 inch (featured on Repertoire’s ‘The 12 Inches’ compendium) was a delightful addition and pushed its Mick Karn styled bass playing and Sylvian-esque backing vocals to the forefront. Although it made the UK Top 20 singles chart, it deserved to be a far bigger hit!

With the success of ‘Hey Little Girl’ in the UK, Chrysalis Records swiftly reissued ‘Primitive Man’, but with a new cover and re-titled it after the interim single ‘Love In Motion’ to reflect the altered tracklisting. While the album was very much of its time, ‘Primitive Man’ aka ‘Love In Motion’ contained some of ICEHOUSE’s best work.

‘Street Café’ was an excellent single but did little to dispel the Roxy rip-off accusations…  it actually chucked more wood on the bonfire by sounding even more like Bryan Ferry than ‘Hey Little Girl’! There was also the quirky ADAM & THE ANTS gone electro of ‘Glam’ but the grandest gesture came from the epic ‘Great Southern Land’. Written as a response to the horrible ‘Down Under’ by MEN AT WORK, Davies had been particularly dismayed by the “ain’t we wacky?” portrayal of his homeland by his fellow Aussies.

Not included though on ‘White Heat: 30 Hits’ but also worthy of mention from ‘Primitive Man’ is ‘Trojan Blue’. Never released as a single, the song captured the stylish drama of ICEHOUSE which set them apart from their contemporaries.

The album led to the call from Mr Bowie and the recruitment of a new ICEHOUSE live band featuring noted bassist and stand-up comedian Guy Pratt. With ‘Hey Little Girl’ becoming a significant European hit and interest in Antipodean music at an all time high with the likes of MIDNIGHT OIL and SPLIT ENZ (soon to mutate into CROWDED HOUSE) also on the scene, 1984 should have been time to capitalise.

But instead, ICEHOUSE released the dreadful ‘Taking The Town’ as the calling card for the new long player ‘Sidewalk’. One disgruntled hack called it “WANG CHUNG meets JAPAN!” and although it was intended as an ironic commentary on hooligan culture, the in-yer-face yobbish chorus did not appeal after the reflective overtones of ‘Primitive Man’. The sombre ballad ‘Don’t Believe Anymore’ was unable to halt the downward spiral.

After the disappointment of ‘Sidewalk’, ground needed to be recaptured and with the enlistment of noted British producers Rhett Davies and David Lord, this was achieved with the more esoteric and expansive ‘Measure For Measure’. From it was the superbly atmospheric lead single ‘No Promises’, effectively a rework of Bowie and Metheny’s ‘This Is Not America’. Again wearing his influences on his sleeve, Davies clearly referenced his contemporaries but put his own stamp on proceedings.

Also from the album, ‘Cross The Border’ managed to sucessfully combine SIMPLE MINDS with DURAN DURAN. Co-written with regular guitarist and collaborator Bob Kretschmer, the song began as a rhythmical programming error on the Fairlight which in turn triggered off a Prophet 5; and to complete the experimental circle, there was Steve Jansen on drums and Brian Eno on backing vocals to boot!

‘Measure For Measure’ set the scene for a big international breakthrough. From ICEHOUSE’s fifth album ‘Man Of Colours’, the anthemic ‘Crazy’ took the lead from SIMPLE MINDS’ ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ and roused the senses via a thoroughly brilliant chorus. Meanwhile ‘Electric Blue’, co-written with John Oates of Hall & Oates fame was simply tailor made for American FM radio.

But it was the beautiful ‘Man Of Colours’ title track that was the centrepiece of the album, combining electronics with woodwinds (Davies was an oboe player with the Sydney Youth Orchestra) in a song that could have easily come from the ‘Measure To Measure’ sessions. Overall, the album was certainly ICEHOUSE’s most universally accessible and led to them touring the world throughout in 1988; ‘Man Of Colours’ is still the highest-selling album in Australia by an Australian band.

With no new album forthcoming, the next single was the straightforward rock pop of ‘Touch The Fire’ and issued to promote an ICEHOUSE best of ‘Great Southern Land’ in 1989. Another song recorded for the compilation ‘Jimmy Dean’ followed a similar line but then after that, ICEHOUSE lost momentum with 1990’s ‘Code Blue’ and 1993’s ‘Big Wheel’ albums only appealing to their hardcore fanbase.

However, 1997’s ‘The Berlin Tapes’ unplugged covers project (from which no songs feature on this collection) recorded for the Sydney Dance Company provided an interesting showcase tribute to Davies’ influences ranging from ROXY MUSIC and TALKING HEADS to Lou Reed, David Bowie and Frank Sinatra to PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED, THE CURE and KILLING JOKE.

Since then, Iva Davies has recorded a number of solo albums and scored the soundtrack for the Russell Crowe film ‘Master & Commander’ in 2003.But more recently, ICEHOUSE have enjoyed a renaissance in Australia following a return to live performance with the ‘Primitive Colours’ retrospective shows.

Very much underrated in the UK, ‘White Heat: 30 Hits’ is a great way of discovering ICEHOUSE’s fabulous music from an era when people were far too interested in the macho posturing of INXS’ Michael Hutchence and Sting-isms of MEN AT WORK as far as Australian acts were concerned to have noticed the songcraft of Iva Davies.

As the man himself sang: “I am a man, a simple man… a man of colours”

‘White Heat: 30 Hits’ is released in Europe as a 2CD+DVD boxed set and download by Repertoire Records

http://www.icehouse-ivadavies.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Icehouse/

https://twitter.com/Icehouseband

https://www.instagram.com/icehouseband/

https://open.spotify.com/album/7Izb3IWa0ghuCrdA0iXVs0

Text by Chi Ming Lai
26th October 2013

MOBY Innocents

28 September 2013 /

Richard Hall, otherwise known by his stage name of Moby, has been a prominent figure in electronica since his breakthrough dance hit ‘Go’in 1991.

Sampling ‘Laura Palmer’s Theme’ from ‘Twin Peaks’, the track became a massive club smash and eventually led to Mobysigning to Mute Records. His proper debut long player ‘Everything Is Wrong’ arrived in 1995 and showcased his eclectic tastes which included hardcore, gospel, punk, classical and ambient. From it, the superb ‘First Cool Hive’ was subsequently used in the closing sequence of the Wes Craven horror flick ‘Scream’.

The album was also accompanied by an essay explaining his political, ethical and religious stand-points. These were to become a regular feature of his album projects in varying degrees and reflected the intelligent if confrontational personality who was to become a love or loathe figure within the music scene.

But frustrated by the lack of critical recognition for his work, he scored a career own goal in 1996 with the thrash-punk flavoured ‘Animal Rights’. The guitar heavy album confused fans although the accompanying ambient bonus ‘Little Idiot’ showed that esoteric synthesizer music influenced by KRAFTWERK, OMD and David Bowie was still very much part of Moby’s make-up. There was then the unexpected success of his best known album ‘Play’ released in 1999.

Inspired by David Byrne & Brian Eno’s evangelist sampling ‘My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts’, ‘Play’ largely comprised of archive blues and gospel field recordings accompanied with synth and piano backing driven by chilled hip-hop rhythms and dance beats. Each of its eighteen tracks was licensed for commercial synchronisation with songs such as ‘Porcelain’ and ‘Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?’ becoming ubiquitous throughout the world’s media and cinema. Cynics yelled “SELL OUT” but Moby and Mute records had astutely recognised that after the fall out from ‘Animal Rights’, this strategy was the best way of getting the album heard in the face of adversity.

The follow-up ’18’ was less enthusiastically received with many considering it to be just an inferior version of ‘Play’. Although it was less consistent than its predecessor, several of its songs such as ‘In This World’ and ‘In My Heart’were equal, if not better than anything on ‘Play’ while ‘Extreme Ways’ has since been adopted as the signature tune for the ‘Bourne’film franchise. Mobyeschewed samples for 2005’s ‘Hotel’, a wholly song based album which featured the exquisite vocals talents of Laura Dawn. On it was a laid back, almost countrified version of NEW ORDER’s ‘Temptation’ which all but confirmed Moby’s influences from British post-punk.

After the disappointing club based ‘Last Night’ which formally concluded his successful relationship with Mute, Moby ventured out with his own Little Idiot label and opened this new phase of his career with a return to form of sorts in ‘Wait For Me’. 2011’s nocturnal ‘Destroyed’ re-established MOBY as a force within electronica and while he continued with a comfortable formula, he did it well and with conviction.

So it is on the crest of this momentum that the new offering ‘Innocents’ appears. First things first… if new sounds and new styles are being sought, ‘Innocents’ is not the place for it. The familiar chord changes and sweeping string synths still abound. On the other hand, ‘Innocents’ is an adventurously beautiful work tinged with emotion, sadness and resignation. Using a variety of guest vocalists and a co-producer in Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, Moby explores mid-life and mortality with an outlook of realism.

‘Innocents’ begins with a rousing instrumental ‘Everything That Rises’ and its gothic demeanour nicely sets the tone of the album. Then ‘A Case For Shame’ with Cold Specks exposes a wonderfully soulful vulnerability before a lift in the marvellous slice of folktronica that is ‘Almost Home’. Here, Damien Jurado’s sensitive vocal quality provides a startling contrast to the sweeping electronic backing.

Another instrumental ‘Going Wrong’reflects its title with sombre piano and strings but despite all the mournful melancholy in the first third, there is light. And just in case you thought things couldn’t get any better, Skylar Grey’s angelic voice on ‘The Last Day’ provides a beautiful innocence over the looping male gospel sample and soaring wash for one of the album’s highlights.

‘Innocents’ is not all downtempo though as the frantic ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ vibe of ‘Saints’ and the euphoria of ‘The Perfect Life’ both prove. The latter is an enjoyable duet by Moby with FLAMING LIPS’ Wayne Coyne and comes over bizarrely like Gary Numan at a Pentecostal church!

Meanwhile, regular collaborator Inyang Bassey move things along with a sultry turn on ‘Don’t Love Me’ adding a more uptempo freeform to proceedings. It’s a welcome diversion before the serious shade returns on ‘A Long Time’; a not too distant cousin of ‘First Cool Hive’and using decades-old vocal samples, it is futuristic but strangely human in that ‘Blade Runner’ manner. And as the closing home stretch of ‘Innocents’ beckons, Cold Specks returns for the cavernous drama of ‘Tell Me’.

With an elegiac tension, ‘The Lonely Night’ strips things down to basics. Featuring the suitably grouchy vocal of SCREAMING TREES’ Mark Lanegan, it wonderfully replicates the resigned feel of Johnny Cash’s rendition of ‘Hurt’. So to finish, ‘The Dogs’ appropriately maintains Moby’s long standing tradition of emotively stark closers like ‘When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die’, ‘Homeward Angel’, with Mr Hall undertaking the vocal chores.

Moby has described parts of ‘Innocents’ as nostalgic futurism and one can see why… various traditional folk and gospel elements from a pre-electronic era are harnessed with technology and reconstructed for the listening pleasure of future generations. Under Moby’s directorship, ‘Innocents’ is soothing, reflective electronic soul; it could well be the best of this type of music since Brian Eno’s ‘Another Day On Earth’ in 2005. It may not be able to achieve the sales figures of ‘Play’ but certainly deserves to.

‘Innocents’ is released on 30th September 2013 by Little Idiot as a CD, deluxe CD, vinyl LP and download

http://www.moby.com/

https://www.facebook.com/mobymusic

https://twitter.com/thelittleidiot

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28th September 2013

AU REVOIR SIMONE Move In Spectrums

25 September 2013 /

AU REVOIR SIMONE released their last album ‘Still Night, Still Light’ in 2009 and from it, ‘Another Likely Story’ was their breakthrough to wider acceptance.

But while songs such ‘Tell Me’ showed there was nothing awry with their songwriting, an epic gothic disco reworking by MIRRORS and a bouncily percussive reinterpretation by VILLA NAH indicated that production and arrangement wise, the threesome’s numbers were maybe not always fulfilling their potential. After three albums in four years, the studious trio took a well deserved break. Annie Hart started a family, Heather D’Angelo completed her University studies while Erika Forster took a buswoman’s holiday and released a solo EP as ERIKA SPRING which included a cover of EURYTHMICS’ ‘When Tomorrow Comes’.

On reconvening, the threesome’s drum machine guardian Heather D’Angelo expressed her concerns that after three albums, ARS’ instrumentation manifesto was becoming too restrictive to develop much further. Thus after eschewing the perils of the drum kit since their formation, ‘Move In Spectrums’ becomes their first album to fully embrace nosier live percussion. But interestingly, although a drummer James Richardson performs on two tracks, the girls’ approach on the rest has been to tackle the duties themselves, much like the early days of OMD when Paul Humphreys took on the percussive role.

Indeed, on the opener ‘More Than’, the combination of the looser rhythmical template, deep drones and organic swimmy synths evoke the atmospheres of early OMD. ‘The Lead Is Galloping’ is dark and mature but following on, there’s a surprise with the album’s second single ‘Crazy’. With a harder, almost rockier NEW ORDER guitar driven sound, the resigned refrain of “Ooh, you girls, you drive me crazy…” empathises with the more aggressive backing and shows that AU REVOIR SIMONE are in reality, more CAMERA OBSCURA than MARSHEAUX.

Producer Jorge Elbrecht of VIOLENS has noticeably beefed up the dynamics but while the fresh rhythmical outlook adds a new dimension, the classic ARS hallmarks of repeated synth riffs and drum machine still remain, particularly on the DMX dominated ‘Just Like A Tree’ and the mechanical conga drive of the sweet launch single ‘Somebody Who’.

There are also several other interesting diversions on ‘Move In Spectrums’; ‘We Both Know’ for example is instrumental for over three of its four and half minutes with the tension building up accordingly while ‘Hand Over Hand’ mutates into something boomingly hallucinogenic. ‘Gravitron’ on the other hand is decisively militaristic before the drifting wispiness of ‘Boiling Point’.

Otherwise, the usual down-to-earth, charm of the trio exudes over a melancholy that is never depressing but always tinged with hope. However, one regular criticism of AU REVOIR SIMONE in the past has been that they can usually only be sampled in small doses. In that respect, ‘Move In Spectrums’ doesn’t change that, especially with the album’s washy, chilled-out but noodling final third. The timely solution may be that elusive AU REVOIR SIMONE ‘best of’ compilation; “Smithers… release the album!” 😉

‘Move In Spectrums’ is released by Moshi Moshi Records as a CD, vinyl and download

http://aurevoirsimone.com/

https://www.facebook.com/aurevoirsimoneband

Text by Chi Ming Lai
25th September 2013

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