Four stars
Of all the paeans to
the late Lou Reed in the last couple of weeks, one of the most
touching was a poem by Paul Haig
(http://www.paulhaig-rhythmoflife.com/post/65335307611/words-for-lou-reed),
whose old band, the Reed/Velvet Underground/Chic-inspired Josef K,
have proved so influential on the likes of Franz Ferdinand and others
since their brief existence in the very early 1980s. To see such a
private artist acknowledge a musical debt like this was surprising
too.
Like Reed, beyond some
mid-80s major label hiccups, Haig has done things on his own terms.
Where it would have been easy to go down the revivalist route and
reform Josef K, apart from a handful of live shows a couple of years
ago, Haig has kept studiously out of view, ploughing his own wilfully
individualistic and largely electronic furrow.
There won't be many
aware that this fourteen-track collection of skewed, beat-based
electro-melodrama released, as many that preceded it, on his own
tellingly named label, is Haig's twelfth solo album. No matter,
because this first release since 2009 is a forward-looking tome on a
multitude of levels, and it's clear that Haig has been absorbing up
to the minute cutting edge sounds alongside his classic influences.
This makes for a
slightly schizoid mix of Bowiesque vocal heroism and cinematically
styled instrumentals that moves between jaunty opener 'UW2B'
straight on to spoken-word sampling dancefloor collage, 'Intro K,'
the menacing fizz and burble of 'All of the Time' and the Acid House
noir of 'Cool Pig.' 'Daemon' is an aspirational single in waiting,
'It's In' a machine-groove mantra and 'Red Rocks' a sax-punctuated
cyber-age march. There are cut-up experiments and stabbing staccato
guitar on 'Dialog,' synth-led systems music with fourth world
propulsion on 'Four Dark Traps', while the melancholia of 'Reflected'
is as existential as it gets, treated vocal and all.
'Midnattssol' seems to
reference Four Tet by way of John Barry, 'Pack' is a Techno-headed
monster full of foreboding a la Burial or Raime, the piano-led
whispered vocal of 'Torn' implies some dimly-lit conspiracy, while
the closing 'Shifter' lays down a funky guitar riff over assorted
beats and skitters. Vocally and musically, then, 'Kube' is a subtly
textured mood music suite that retains a warmth throughout even as it
flits between light and shade.
The List, November 2013
ends
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