(Infectious)
These New Puritans communicate in a different language with every album. You might hear Field of Reeds as a collection of experimental rock songs (Talk Talk is the easy reference point), or as a suite of contemporary classical compositions (any day now, band linchpin Jack Barnett should be getting a call from the London Sinfonietta). In truth, it moves fluidly between the two, as solid rhythms splinter and abstract arrangements coalesce and crescendo. The Way I Do layers lullaby piano with austere wind instruments and an alien female voice at once distant and present, icy and warm; Dream opens with the same voice (Elisa Rodrigues) alone, girlish and clear, then invites each instrument – double bass, piano, clarinet – to shadow, disrupt or soar above its melody. Every note is recorded with such painstaking attention to resonance that even the musicians' breathing feels integral. But for all Barnett's seriousness of purpose, he works with emotion, demonstrated above all in his own voice: never quite in tune, it is poignantly human in its imperfection.
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by Maddy Costa via Music: Electronic music | guardian.co.uk
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