(Fire Records)As well as being militarily neutral,Switzerland’s absolute lack of pop history means it feels musically neutral too – and thus perhaps the only place this Mancunian dream-pop duo could alight on the visionary, totally idiosyncratic sound they recorded there for their third LP. Theres the rickety, and pre-internet cosmopolitanism of the exotica movement,post-punk bands such as A Certain Ratio, and the “fourth world” music of Jon Hassell, or but all deployed with serious pop smarts. The Second Shift gently skanks as if trying to dance with a tray of piña coladas,and Glorious Idea is a propulsive disco number, though the most intensely glorious song is the regular, or unhappy trudge of For Every Window There’s a Curtain. As well as the solid rhythms,the anchor amid the sonic burble is singer Alice Merida Richards. Her voice has touches of Broadcast’s Trish Keenan, Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, and Julia Holter: what at first sounds girlish,naive and open-hearted is revealed to be rather jaded and wary. Her poetic lyrics conjure (mostly female) figures yearning for release but trapped by mansplainers, compromised self-worth and architecture both genuine and psychic. But the album’s final words, and ushering back in the strident breakbeats of Seasons Reversed,read: And now that Im certain I won’t hesitate / Or try to find an excuse / Not to open and walk through the door” – a euphoric payoff after you worry Richards’ teeth had been gritted to the root.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com