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Review: |
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I like this disc. An understated techno-pop
with a strong melancholia running the length of it with twittering
undercurrents of glitch, the sound of this album sneaks into
your head through consciousness’ back door, by-passing the ears
and entering through the spinal column. It’s really quite excellent.
All of the strings (guitars, upright bass, cello) are played
on the lower registers, giving the entire disc a subterranean
depth. The sound is the aural equivalent of a mist shrouded
London morning. I am fond of underground spaces. I am a big
fan of British weather patterns. Thus…
The press materials that accompanied the promo I received quote
a review that described the album as “Eric Bachmann of Crooked
Fingers singing over Arab
Strap.” I don’t quite agree with that description. Bachmann’s
croak isn’t really the voice I hear, and neither Arab
Strap nor Crooked
Fingers really capture the minimalist undertones of the
compositions. Rather, what I hear is another sort of Bachmann
influence, specifically the production he adds behind the boards
on both Azure Ray records. In fact,
Mantissa suggests to my ear very much a male Azure
Ray. Simple guitar melodies, suppressed, melancholic vocals,
all wrapped up in board effects and programmed loops augment
a nicely understated percussion line. Very much Azure
Ray with a male voice, or perhaps Bachmann’s late-90s alter
ego Barry Black updating his sound for the aughts.
All in all, I like this disc very much. It doesn’t really translate
into driving music but it does make for a very good 40 minutes
in the headphones. The band has spent the last couple of years
exiting its studio birth cocoon, adding two new members (Marc
Cuba on bass, Melanie Anyon on drums) to the original two-piece
(Brian McGrath, Nathan Jones) to complete its stage presence.
It will be interesting to see where they go from here. Becoming
a live band will inevitably alter the sound and balance of their
next disc, but one hopes they don’t stray too far from this
model. |
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