try harder

Brightonian multi-instrumentalists and surreal storytellers wrap you in a blanket of warm lo-fi sound.

From Blanket comes ‘Blankit,’ the debut album from this bunch of eccentric Brightonians who produce multi-instrumentation with their glockenspiels, lap steels and omnipotent omnichord. In addition to this musical toy box they have a singer with one of the most intriguing female vocals since Bjork first burst onto the scene with the Sugarcubes. Vicki Steer’s delicate whisperings make her sound like the little sister of Natalie Merchant, Harriet Wheeler and Beth Orton.

In ‘Heaven, Heaven, Earth,’ with its acoustic patterns and intermittent clicks she ‘saw Jesus sitting on a rock.’ While on ‘Collapse,’ she sings ‘puff, puff’ and ‘scrub it up’ with waiflike insouciance over tinkling keys and sniffing noises. The overall effect is that of a lullaby. ‘Vroom Vroom Bang Bang Bang,’ has a muted trumpet playing somewhere in the distance which gives it a Bacharach feel. On ‘Off,’ intriguing Sicilian strings that might accompany a Mafioso wedding dominate the haunting vocals.

‘Wood for Fire,’ reminds me of The Sundays ‘I Cant Be Sure.’ The bluesy country ballad ‘Clothes Horse,’ name checks washing up with lonely hearts in a stream of consciousness that both baffles and beguiles the listener. While sisters in the ruins with a plaque and ‘Biblical Hair,’ project spewings about lips made of oil.

‘Mondo Ikea,’ is a whistling tale of flat packed furniture that came in a box with another name on; a trunk in the shape of a double bunk and an Eastern European colour scheme. You’ve got a sign around your neck saying ‘Goodbye to Fast Food Friends,’ evokes the eerie quality of the theme to Twin Peaks. ‘If you know science is great sit back and take the train,’ declares Steer, inviting you to join the club.

These ginger bearded boys with their sultry singer tell tales of the minutae of the everyday by way of slide guitar and brushed drums. They marry lo-fi bliss care of spellbinding melodies to lilting arrangements. It’s a surreal narrative of rabbits drum kits and junkyards and whatever else springs into their mind at any given point in the day.

Mazzy Star meets nineties cult duo Pooka with a bit of Zero Seven and some lazy country blues stirred into the mix. This superb debut begs an afternoon devoted to its solitary listening pleasure.

subba-cultcha.com

back