|
popstrels' mini opus whatever happened
to our indie? its balls dropped and it joined brmc, of course. but for those who
prefer music quirky, lo-fi and peppered with toy instruments, homescience are
here. recorded on a budget of £4.62 (possibly), 'songs for sick days' encompasses
shoestring brian wilson genius on 'don't shirk', a severely depleted polyphonic
spree ('helium balloons') and total rubbish ('complete train kit') via west coast
harmonies and acoustic guitars.
| |||
| why
scotland has produced such a vast number of malcontents who can so skilfully harness
the beauty and gentility of 60s psychedelic pop is frankly a mystery. but while
stephen pastel, eugene kelly and stuart murdock can look down on everything they
have helped mistakenly inspire, we can marvel at the results. meet the delightful
homescience. plinky pianos, rattling guitars, squeaky yank accents and (hark!)
is that a xylophone and a kazoo i can hear? so twee they should be shitting fuzzy
felts, homescience have a ruddy charm about them that forgives the fact you might
have heard many of these precocious melodies before. now if only it was summer
outside…
| |||
| homescience
wear their americana influences proudly and affectionately on this beautiful album.
over the space of 50 minutes, these 22 songs curl around you like a duvet on a
flu-ridden day, warm, tender, letting you know it's ok to feel a little bit sorry
for yourself. the two opening tracks give a flavour of things to come. little
wings is a downbeat lo-fi acoustic tune which starts "you cut off my head/but
i wont be dead/'cos little wings will sprout from my shoulders". you know
that you're in for something a bit odd, gothic, special. the vocal style recalls
the fragile, melancholic delivery of mark linkous, and indeed throughout the album
i am reminded of the power of those seemingly simple, uncluttered and heartbreaking
songs of sparklehorse. then there's the carefully put together don't shirk, a
sort of pet sounds chewed over by the flaming lips, with a vocal melody and slight
non-committal rhythm. it sounds brilliant. and unbelievably the whole album is
like this: lo-fi, intimate, sad melodies, mainly acoustic, sometimes electric,
sometimes floating, sometimes rhythmic (song, one of the most straightforward
countryrocktype tunes here, is a gentle singalong about a song that you can call
your own, natch), sometimes with the odd sound experiment (the backwards sample
of train and birds on complete train kit). homescience may hail from scotland
but you wouldn't know it - "we've been here livin' whiskey for days/tumbleweed
could just take me away/from the brownstones and pains/to my home on the range/the
stestons' ten gallons of nyc rain" they sing over the clip-clop rhythm and
bar-room piano on livin' whiskey. and boy, you're with them. americana being a
state of mind, of course. in homescience and songs for sick days we have something
homegrown and special, that may point to the likes of sparklehorse, mercury rev
and flaming lips, but avoids the pretentious excesses and pitfalls that they can
suffer from. if you've ever liked the more focussed songs of these bands then
i suggest you will like this. now for my sicknote - "dear boss, cannot come
into work today….you cut off my head…".
| |||
| it's
about time the elephant 6 collective were recognised as the seminal group of musicians
that they've become. with the rocking beauty of beulah, the pure pop dizziness
of apples in stereo to the strange acid fried imagination of elf power, the group,
which is ever growing, specialize in west coast harmony and psychedelic pop. homescience
are one band quite clearly smitten by these us pop crusaders. this, their second
long player, is accurately titled as the album provides a blast of sunny delight
without being too sweet, and is so chilled out that i can imagine the band strewn
across the floor on mattresses and sofas while recording it. the opener 'little
wings' is a short sharp entry into their smoky haze of americana and sounds reminiscent
of the lips at their most melancholic. songs for… then veers off into the
direction of 'sisco with 'helium balloons' and 'ride your crocodile' sounding
like songs written by the bastard off-spring of brian wilson. the strange trick
of running two vocals over each other to produce an echoing and reverberating
effect is a classic technique of the aforementioned e6 group and is used here
to emphasise the harmonies running throughout. the jumpy rhythm's make me want
to skip around the house, while the pianos, trumpets and toy instruments that
are thrown in for good measure all add to a feeling of bliss in a way only scottish
bands seem to be able to do, i.e. teenage fanclub, the pastels et al. however,
this isn't an album that will place an inane grin on your face. it's more intelligent
than that. just like knowing that without happiness there would be no sadness,
songs for… pulls at the heart strings taking a person to such highs that
you can imagine and remember the lows that exist. 'so long baby' will remind anyone
of those minutes your on the train platform waving farewell to your chosen love
one - it makes you feel heart broken. but don't fret cos' within the same song
they've put it all back together again. the gliding guitar riffs, which appear
to be in slow motion and calm the straining brain cells after a session with mcclusky
or econoline, are ideal for imagining summertime in the american mid-west. it's
only when songs for… finishes that you realise it's a sunday afternoon in
freezing old blighty and you long for the crazy days of summer again. if you hear
this album and take a dislike to it, you will greatly offend me and it's certainly
better than anything those hyped up, posh kids the thrills could do. songs for
sick days' release has been perfectly timed to coincide with the start of the
biting british winter. stay in, pull some sicky's and listen, bounce around and
sing along to it, if only because it's the sole exercise you'll get this winter.
| |||
|
edinburgh's homescience saw their
modest masterpiece drown in the flood of pre-christmas releases. 'songs for sick
days' features a refinement in composition. on their pickled egg records debut
ep, homescience carried less melody and showed more do it yourself attitude. two
years onwards the combo offers two hands full of short stories, acoustic sketches
and even some radio friendly songs. 'helium balloons' is a fine slab of clacking
folk-pop. it's got the sound of wimps actually coming on strong and homescience
leave with the place smashed up real good. "burn what's left" is a quote
from one of the next tracks and this illustrates how homescience are serious about
what they sing and perform. 'songs for sick days' isn't about cheap excuses; instead
the album is highly volatile and it should get chris martin's recommendation.
'songs for sick days' is a real gem and, mind you, i hardly ever write that.
| |||
| so,
elephant 6 is now "dead." good. sure, there were one or two great moments,
but for the most part, i was rather annoyed by the lo-fi mediocre nature of most
of the bands. many of these bands seemed to be simply the same band with the same
people and the same sound but a different name. yawn. it seemed that for each
neutral milk hotel, there were five bands that shouldn't have gone further than
mp3.com--and many of those had members of neutral milk hotel in them! to honor
the recently departed, we won't name names, but we'll say that maybe it was time
it was laid to rest. that the founding fathers officially proclaimed its passing
means that they thought so, too. but here's where it gets problematic. where does
imitation end and tribute begin? isn't any band or label's legacy seen in those
that continue on the style or the sound long after the original bands have split?
what happens when the influence grew exponentially during its lifetime? yeah,
see what i mean when i say this is a real problem? not to worry, though; homescience
sound influenced by, but they don't sound derivitive of. what sets homescience
apart, at least in my mind, is that their lead singer (sorry, don't really know
who, information on these kids is really sketchy, at best) sounds like tripping
daisy/polyphonic spree ringmaster tim delaughter. exactly like him. so much so
that if i didn't know where these guys are from, i'd suspect a secret side project
was afoot. that aside, it's the singing that really wins me over. it's very innocent,
child-like. normally silly lyrics don't come off quite the same when sung with
a serious, grown-up voice. "m...art in" (i think it's the title of track
11) is perhaps my favorite. it's a paen to working in a fast-food restaurant,
and it's a rather poignant observation of life. i think. the music itself is a
joyous racket. for, you see, it's that loose, shambling sound of youth that makes
songs for sick days utterly charming. no song lasts over three minutes, and they
scoot from idea to idea without pause. sad ballad segues into beach boys riffs
segues into pianos and guitars and loops and lions and tigers and bears oh my!
homescience never sit still enough to be pigeonholed--and that's perhaps the one
flaw of songs for sick days. there are twenty-two songs on here, and while all
of them are nice, i do believe that each one, if developed a little more, would
be killer. mind you, many of these tracks are excellent as they are, but a little
more time in the oven would really provide the difference between good and great.
but that really is a minor quibble. i'm very eager to hear what these kids will
do next. songs for sick days is a fun record, and while the sheer amount of music
might be offputting in one full dose, small doses--taken every four hours, or
as directed by a doctor--are nothing but theraputic. if i still made mixtapes,
i could probably find about twenty-two songs on here that would be great. now
if only someone would give these kids a big studio budget to spend some time on
their music, i suspect that they'll produce a miracle cure for the current epidemic
of musical shite. reviewed by joseph kyle from www.mundanesounds.com |