Thank you loyal readers for keeping this
blog on the air. You have been reading and I have been a bad, bad blogger.
There has been SO much great new music out
there. I won’t even BEGIN to tell you how the new XX album amazed me, or how
Wild Nothing are currently infusing 80s urban wilderness into my discontented
lungs. But my, the indie sun has shone mightily on all things in the
alternative blogosphere. I would like to point out a particular success since
this blog has been away – the band/London duo called Disclosure, who this blog
featured way back in June 2011 (Oh yes, waaay back people. You heard it here
first aite?) Well they have skkkyrocketed of late, out of oblivion and in to
mass homes, on to radio and towards an excellent set that recently completed an
Bestival, loosely coinciding with the release/leaking on ‘Latch’, which can be
found here. There will be more to come. I just can’t figure out what to write
about next. Hmmm….
We join Philco Fiction at their international germination but over eight years into their career. The Norwegian trio (website) are warming us with ballads, but not ordinary ones. Stomachs do flips and journo brains get a bit sweaty. Take It Personal (stream it here) is a neon gas heater of sound, driving down artificial, impersonal warmth onto your head.
This is a very unusual record. Philco rush from Florence & The Machine esque soaring pop ballad to electro anthem, to orchestra-led avant garde experimentation. Throughout, The Knife’s off-kilter unpredictable bombast runs through the tracks. First there's the confident but dispassionate female vocal like Karin Dreijer Andersson and then there's the unnerving changes of atmosphere between sideways pop splashes (like The Knife's Deep Cuts), dark twists (like Silent Shout) and orchestras (like Tomorrow, In a Year). The confusing undertones of sophomore and potential breakthrough Take it Personal are endless.
Take It Personal won’t so much hit you, as lower you gently into a cauldron of bubbling stew. The introduction, ‘Help!’, uses dark, rumbling bass reminiscent of Fever Ray before breaking into a soaring electro anthem of safer pop chart climbs. Even then, Turid Alida Solberg’s voice belies the song's familiarity, keeping it tethered to a dark undercurrent. Slowly, Philco's air of definiteness comes apart. ‘The Youth’ opens with creepy synths and the soundtrack to a child tiptoeing in fairy-tale haunted woods. Violins, cellos (?) and whirring gadgetry in the bridge show that this record might indeed be one odd mother. Streaks of ‘One For You’ or ‘Rock Classics’ from Deep Cuts break out as ‘The City’ confirms our expectations: Gloomy, uncertain, dark…congratulations- you are into Philco Fiction's mad mad world.
The band navigate genres and styles like a croupier shuffling cards. From ‘Finally’ onwards, they let rip and open up into a plethora of directions that even the most able reviewer would find daunting. 'Finally' opens with XX-like guitars that join broad strokes of gentle piano chords part-way through. Into six minute number ‘Too Nice’, and the slow-burning sound starts to get asphyxiating; warped, almost, as it progresses. The section comes to a head with ‘I Want You’, an edgy track that pulsates with non sequitur lyrics a la that Swedish duo (once again):
"My intentions are no longer good. My intentions aren't acting like they should. I never decide what to eat. I never lose my sleep."
It builds to a gloriously melodic soulful climax, twirling to victory.
Now for the most surprising part. Seconds after the layered, triumphant climax, a delicate folk number eases into ear-shot. Pizzicato violins? Joanna Newsom? Almost. With Turid's soothing, swooning elegance, this particularly stunning juxtaposition of songs finally blows out. Snaking its path, calming you down, 'Too Close' ably steers you out of madness, towards sobriety and into the next section. The diversity on this album, but particularly, these four middle tracks, is amazing. Each one is boldly sonically independent. They stare you down with such confident directness that even on repeated listens you forget what you’ve just heard once the next track's begun. Take It Personal demands it. It demands all your focus. 'Take It Personal' is very apt indeed.
The final three tracks are no less unusual. ‘Horizon’, the most upbeat number on the album preens with sparkle. It's easy to see why lady vocalist led electro acts have had such blog exposure this year: with double-track recording, Turid's voice comes out in a way that I don't think a male vocalist's could.
Take It Personal is one of my favourite records of 2011 so far, and one of the most unclassifiable, deep, stunning albums broadly fitting within the parameters of popular alternative music I’ve ever heard. There isn’t a duffer, and even towards the end when you finally think you've consolidated the swathes of sonic territory there are to contend with, 80s pop inspired ‘Time is a Fly’ comes in and smashes the little picket-fence you think you've built to house it. If someone could tell me from where Philco Fiction draw their inspiration apart from ‘everywhere’ I would be interested to hear it. The way music can be in the self-referential, post-modern internet world is an incredible thing. And it’s not for the first time that I love it. Philco Fiction, I hope, will become one of the world's most popular new alternative bands.
Ever since BBC Three rocked up, Glastonbury has been the perfect opportunity for the BBC to get excited the way ITV never did about its cultural output, and send four hundred cameramen to broadcast the fest on up to three channels at once (and Radio 4 this year for some poetry!) With their prospective audience in mind, the BBC’s coverage usually means that whatever "moments" they select from Glastonbury's seismic musical rainbow aren't up to much when it comes to covering new artists, but for the odd exception.
Their time with The XX’s set was to be expected – one song- however, even after hearing it a couple of times previously, this nugget of a choice took me by surprise. Bulbous bass punctuated the hollow sound of Romy’s dead pan vocals. Pauses for lots of crowd noise. Then Florence Welch appeared for her second, but really first unexpected duet of the weekend. What made this performance of ‘You Got the Love’ such a spine tingling moment, was that the XX remix of the song was an internet sensation in late 2009 for anyone after the combination of track and artist to characterise the year in alternative pop artists hitting popularity. And of course the song reached ubiquity on its supreme quality as well as being a pinpoint reflection of the zeitgeist. As she mashed up her vocal lines, Florence's enthusiasm reverberated through to the farthest BBC helicopter.
