mellafone - every word i drop ep
released on the new kooba label. i first heard the lead track off this ep when trying out radio6 for a few lost moments and was very impressed. the band (chris mears/james childs-evans according to the minimal information provided) were being interviewed and came over well. so after a bit of net searching i got the details and got myself sorted.
lucky me.
the ep starts off with a glockenspiel and happy handclap rhythm into which a full on acoustic bass line erupts and carries the track forward in a totally different direction. in fact, all the tracks featured have an easy laid back vibes each with a massively warm bass line (stand-up bass ?), that dominates the feel and texture and creates a very different style of music.
a rich spacious atmosphere dominates the largely acoustic instrumentation across the whole 17 minutes. closer listening reveals strange little noises in the sidelines keeping this from veering too far off into easy listening, strange little distorted electronic noises, twisted and pulled to create a slight but not unpleasant disorientation for the headphone listener.
mark hollis crossed with the dark textures of bark psychosis. while the vocals are very much of the david gray type, melodic and pleasant on the ear, there are no challenging histrionics here, no stylised vocal tricks. subsequently the vocals are all played very straight and fit well into the melodies presented.
for me though, the real beauty is in the instrumentation - an excellent starter pack.