Album Review: Neon Hurts My Eyes - Natural Self

It appears that Nathaniel Pearn has had an interesting few years since I checked out his last album, My Heart Beats Like A Drum. This is Pearn's first album with him in the front seat as singer-songwriter, a move that holds promise given the over-reliance on occasionally formulaic instrumentals on previous releases.

Having said which, Neon Hurts My Eyes still starts with an instrumental in the form of Metropolis. That opening still sign-posts how much Natural Self has changed this time around though. Whilst this album retains elements of Pearn's hip-hop and funk production influences the opening highlights there is a lot more going on. The press-release may be a little over-eager in name-checking Radiohead and the Beta Band but this is clearly a more experimental album.

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​Neon Hurts My Eyes - Natural Self

So Neon Hurts My Eyes opens with glitchy electronic-bleeps and wild, soaring vocal choruses before early preview track Red Wire Blue Wire picks up the baton. Here Pearn's vocals are applied to a head-nodding electronic track, complete with arpeggiated synths and bass-heavy keys. Its a marked departure, and a refreshing one.

There are moments when Neon Hurts... seems to drift much more towards the traditional Natural Self sound, on the soulful choral female vocals of The Valleys, for example. On the whole however this is an album that sounds like the creator grew tired of his pigeonhole, and Pearn's adventures are generally a more worthwhile listen as a result. Yet there are a few missteps - a general overwhelming sense of earnestness and a cover of Laurie Andreson's O Superman that I struggle to wholly get behind.

The album is strongest when it forges its own path. Mirror To The Sky is an entrancing post-apocalyptic ballad of our demise, complete with haunting cello and mechanical drums whilst Take It Back is fuzzy, jiving and chaotic - a whirl of electronic noise and grimy bass. The album closes on a haunted, spectral instrumental in Paper Skyline that conjures a sense of conflicted optimism.

Pearn is no longer wrestling with his inspiration as he was on previous albums. Neon Hurts My Eyes is Natural Self creating his own identity, and so far it's sounding pretty good.

Neon Hurts My Eyes is out on 11 March through Tru Thought, available for pre-order on CD from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].

Single Review: Watching the World (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) - Surahn

Surahn is the latest signing to the DFA label, with his debut self-titled EP seeing a release through the label last year (it's on Spotify here). He was a touring member of Empire of the Sun, a founding member of The Swiss and has written with Usher (is that good? I lose track...). In other words, he certainly has some experience.

This single release hands the original track Watching The World (not actually on here, but featured on that debut EP) to Norwegian disco wonder Prins Thomas.

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On the a-side Prins transforms the gentle beach-combing laid-back disco of the original to a glamorous discoball Hi-NRG disco. Cue a steady four-four beat, heavy arpeggiated bass lines and a string backing. The dramatic vocals suit the heightened tone - it's a heartbroken tale of remorse from Surahn and Prins Thomas delivers a production to match.

It's high drama but it lacks some of the chilled, soulful feel of the original. On the flip is an instrumental, which benefits from the restraint that comes with the removed vocal.

Surahn's debut album is due on DFA later this year and it's shaping up to be an interesting release and this single is a good enough soundtrack whilst we wait.

Watching the World (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) is out on vinyl exclusively from the DFA online store and is released digitally on 26 February. You can pre-order the digital release from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].

Album Review: Escape Yourself - Footprintz

The debut album from the Footprintz duo, Clarian North and Adam Hunter, has bold aspirations. On embarking on creating Escape Yourself they aimed to make "a real album", one that captures the imagination and, possibly, reels you back in later on in life, helping to re-capture the past but shifting with the added perspective that comes with age:

"When I was 18 I had those albums you'd escape with. When we were making the Footprintz record that was really our aim - to produce an album that kids can listen and escape to."

For an album from a 'dance' duo on the respectable but relatively dance floor focused Visionquest, they have their work cut out for them - DJs just don't make those kind of albums.

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Escape Yourself - Footprintz

And the reality is that I'm not sure anyone makes those kind of albums anymore. It's always difficult to judge the importance of the present as it happens but the age of the classic album feels largely over... Looking back at 2012's best releases and it's hard to envisage many of them resulting in a generation getting lost in them. Frank Ocean's Channel Orange, maybe... But the way people consume music, particularly young people, has changed.

Regardless, North & Hunter give it a good try, and Escape Yourself has moments where the effort pays off. There's more than a cursory nod to the eighties here, with Depeche Mode's dark-emotional-male sound a consistent reference point. The album also benefits from shining production work from, giving the whole album a polished but dank, basement feel.

Escape Yourself is an album built around the difficulty of growing up, the transition from youth to adulthood, where it often feels like your mature identity is escaping what you once were. It's this topic that the lyrics focus on, whether in confusion and alienation (Uncertain Change) or hapless temporal celebration (Zanzibar).

In one sitting it is a relatively heavy affair. The consistency of tone is in some ways admirable, yet over the course of nearly 70-minutes it feels a little like a series of laden sermons. There is not enough variety to break Escape Yourself up into acts and too much "album" to dwell in the one place it inhabits. It feels trapped by the past - that eighties sound - as much as it is inspired by it.

A shame, because the moments the album takes in are, individually, well worth a listen. The open analogue space of Dangers Of The Mouth, the heavily percussive and experimental The Nightingale and the sudden rush of hope that comes in the open vocal delivery on the bridge of Heaven Felt Like A Night.

Escape Yourself is clearly an album of devotion and Visionquest deserve to be commended for their clear willingness to take a risk. It's unlikely you will find this pumping out of a teenager's headphones though - it's just too focused on the past of its creators to do that. 

Escape Yourself is released through Visionquest on 18 March, available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD [affiliate link].

EP Review: Automaton Remixes - Fairmont

Fairmont is Jake Fairley and whilst I'm not consciously aware of having come across his work before he's apparently been in the electronic music world for more than a decade now. This EP follows on from his My Favorite Robot released album from last year, his third album in total.

This release is a remix EP featuring re-imaginings from four of the tracks from that album. The first of these is Last Dance, which receives a remix from Ewan Pearson. Positioned at the beginning of the EP and with an instrumental version of the same remix closing the release out it feels like this is what the label view as the tent pole of the set.

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Automaton Remixes - Fairmont

And that is not without reason. Pearson has a proven history of quality remix and production work and he doesn't disappoint here. Last Dance takes the form of a dark, melancholic house record. There is a cinematic, night-driving-down-the-autobahn aesthetic to the record that conjures up visions, aided by the lyrics. "The hardest part is moving on / who knew this song would be our swan / I never meant to cause you harm / but it don't matter who's right or wrong" sings Fairley. It's hard not to question just how final that Last Dance is. The Spanish flamenco guitar that flickers in the background adds a further element of sophisticated, downbeat emotion. It's a quality mix no doubt assisted by terrific source material.

Whilst nothing else quite reaches the same heights the other remixes are good nonetheless. Ryan Crosson (of Merveille & fame) remixes Alkaline, turning it into flowing techno track that applies some touches to give the track an impressive range and melodic depth. It may not have the emotional punch of Last Dance but it certainly shines as a deep track for dark discos.

The Undo remix of Fate is slow and moody, a dark electro piece full of out of step timing and barely whispered vocals. The heavy synths roll over the track, giving it a building, immovable feel.

Tiny Diamonds is the last track bar that instrumental and it gets a treatment from Arthur Oskan. Oskan uses arpeggiated synths to create another dark, sleek remix full of menacing melodies.

Off of the back of this EP I'll certainly be checking out the album, and it's another quality release from My Favorite Robot.

Automaton Remixes is released through My Favorite Robot Records on 25 February.

Album Review: Colour Is Breathe - Soosh

Colour Is Breathe was recorded by Soosh, real name Soroosh Khavari, during a five-month stink in Italy last year and it's a delicate concoction of chilled IDM that references Boards of Canada and Nathan Fake amongst others.

There's a Hip-Hop looseness here but it's combined with a fuzzy, hazy feel and dizzy melodic electronics. Even when some of the track don't feature the guest vocals of Soosh's sister, Carmel Khavari, there are still voices scattered across most of the tracks, whether they be samples or presumably at times Soosh's own. 

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Colour Is Breathe - Soosh

Chorus Dream is one track that features an understated, slightly rough and ready vocal that captures a gentle sense of longing. There are four tracks featuring guest vocalist Carmel and all layer the vocals relatively deep with the mix, at times instrument-like in their application, as on the title track.

Soosh's style encompasses a textual approach to composition, applying the principles of musique concrète to incorporate found sounds. It adds to the atmospheric and dreamy feel of Colour Is Breathe. This is a gentle album, and listened to through a pair of headphones it slowly encloses the listener like a film of abstraction between them and the outside world, slowing things down for a moment. For the right moments it's a welcoming step away from the reality of gravity and momentum.

Colour Is Breathe is released through Error Broadcast on 25 February, available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link].