ELECTRELANE
Axes
Too Pure
· Brits go Kraut.
Electrelane have often been on the verge of greatness, but something’s always slipped. Whether their musical abilities couldn’t quite live up to their ambitions or their previous, albums were made too quickly for the group to keep up with their own ideas, Axes changes all that.
Sounding coiled and pristine like minimalist masters Neu!, the songs of Axes are just as often instrumental as vocal, moving forward like perpetual motion machines with metronomic precision. "Eight Steps" wraps post-rock esthetics around old-world instrumentation (accordions and cello taking the place of guitars), while "Bells" goes all autobahn with thumped piano and two-chord guitar. "I Keep Losing Heart" even throws in that most heartbreaking of instruments (the banjo always makes me cry), and somehow the match totally fits.
Given the in-studio practices of über-indie producer god Steve Albini (live takes, very few overdubs and seldom more than two or three chances), the messy perfection of Axes proves Electrelane fully capable of pulling off even their grandest notions.
|
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.