THE MICK 50 master - Mick Mercer

manages to be wistful and enigmatic as gaseous vocals inflate a bigboned
form of ambient, with the Tansley-assisted ‘A Song Of
Forgotten Places’ pitter-pattering along with pliable bass and a silky
mystery. It would be funny if ‘The Lament Of Icarus’ started with
some sizzling then one almighty, ‘Oh fuuuuucccckkk!’ drifting down
and away through the mix, but that simply isn’t the case dear reader.
Instead they have access to his pre-flight diary, but with vocals so
light they’re almost invisible they are selfishly determined to keep his
secrets to the grave, but they do it beautifully.
‘Telling Lost Tales To The Last Rays Of The Sun’ might seem like a
title which only makes sense if you’re on drugs but they’ve kept the
best until last, as this exquisitely dreamy piece meanders lusciously as
though we are listening to music made by ghosts.
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FRIGHTDOLL
ASSIMILATION ILLUSION
Quantum Release
I like Frightdoll’s polite optimism, because while I dismissed the first
album as having good ideas laid low by bumptious beats and vocals
that were held too far back, she sent this cheerily with a note saying
she hopes I don’t find it as disappointing.
It certainly starts well with the simple piano opening of ‘Lost’ slowly
gaining weird, intentionally tiny vocals, and it’s beautifully strange.
‘Alone In This’ clatters briskly into life, and it becomes clear this
holding back the vocals is all quite intentional because while the dance
rhythm pulses more acutely than before, with fuller curvature, the
vocals are still trapped within, hissing and gyrating. The keyboard is
also quite unconventional for the surroundings. ‘Caused’ informs us
it’s a matter of structure, apparently, and off it twirls with another
engagingly twisted shape gliding to an effectively swaying rhythm
through which larges shape appear to fit through smaller holes
nimbly; Industrial Dance with a fresh-faced severity, and danceable
joy, although it ends in a dwindle. ‘Evolution’ is equally weird.
Although truncated the ideas have their own sense of life and when
you read the lyrics you realise this some sort of hi-tech dreamworld, so
you can’t very well expect breezy urgency as it’s like a sci-fi plot
unravelling. (‘Encoded program of our perception, exponentially
accelerating, towards simplified complexity…’ etc.) After a few
listens you start to hook into its wordiness and it becomes more
catchy.
‘Controverse’ actually mystifies me, as there’s plenty of twirly
percussion and twinkling synthery but as the pulses starts nagging the
vocals have vanished, having only been hissing enigmatically, making
it seem a vague promise of something deep, but at least musically it’s
bold enough to stay the course and work on that level, even if the
intention seems unclear. ‘Indecision’ hungers and keeps on going but
not in a hard way, and I lost interest here, because while its
arrangement is there for the song to really spring around it seems to
have so much compressed inside it that it becomes arthritic as a result
and if it went out in public people would gather around and point at it.
‘Don’t touch it!’ mothers would warn impetuous children, ‘it’s
confused.”
‘Distant’ is sensitively muted and while the lyrics are more normal
they’re also open to interpretation, the sound encouraging the wistful
mystery. ‘Leaving You’ comes over really lively, helped by the vocals
crawling out from under the weight of the music and snapping at the
air deliciously, although still electronically treated. The rhythm is
touch and scrupulously clean, the atmosphere sober and clinical, but
the vocals cute, the song ending like a trick. ‘Generate’ takes a dour
dance beat and fleeting vocal incisions to create an obliquely hypnotic
undertow, on into the slow motion classical fusion of ‘Endings’ with
Kate Bush In Space style vocals and some interesting, graduated mood
shifts, before the dignified ‘Sweet Serenity’ ends in the same style as
the peculiar opener, which brings us full cycle, and keeps it circling.
Four or five plays in things start making sense. It’s not a huge step up
from the first album but shows how that lacked toning and natural
impetus. There’s nothing rickety on the rhythm front here and while
the vocal disguise stills semi-baffles me, the character comes through
stronger, if diffused. Melodically there’s both punchy finesse and a
cool shadowy grandeur, which is all highly impressive.
www.frightdoll.com
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GAË BOLG
PETITE INTRODUCTION AUX PRATIQUES DES
GYMNOSOPHES
Le Cluricaun
‘In Taberna’ is very punchy, with percussion right behind your head as
the keyboards begin an orderly procession and some mental historical
tableau gets played out in the minds of those that understand. I still
don’t think I quite get what all this is about, but as the horns bleed
copious drama into proceedings it’s all very inviting. The vocals are
totally mental but as the music swarms around you and you are quite
trapped in this, it’s curiously energising.
‘La Fameuse Marche Mogole’ is being airdropped into a toyshop that
comes alive at night, with the vocals omnipotent warbling par