CD reviews
LET’S EAT GRANDMA I’m All Ears
DON’T let their tender age fool you, Let’s Eat Grandma have got the skills to pay the bills. The duo walk a tightrope with their sound, one part synth-pop and the other part wild experimentation. Starting at the finish line, the album’s most ambitious song Donnie Darko stretches over 11 minutes. It is an intoxicating, intricate song that crosses from folk to rock to electronica. It pairs gentle plucked guitars with a build towards multiple synth eruptions. This is a band that screws up their nose at the idea of genre boundaries. Back at the start, opener Whitewater seems designed to scare your pants off. It’s a heavy tune that features squiggling synth melodies, classical instrumentation, a rumbling bass line that should be on a techno record, and just enough spookiness in the rhythm textures to make you feel uncomfortable. It’s a trick in a way, because almost everything that comes after it feels so light and fluffy by comparison. When they do opt for pop music, it’s actually pretty great. Hot Pink starts out gentle before coming alive with a burst of post-Flumestyle off-kilter snarling beats. It’s Not Just Me is happy, glossy, ’80s pop. It shows an ability to fuse Chvrches-style cascading melodies with their desires to get crazy and psychedelic.
Snakes and Ladders is another high point that shapeshifts from a soft pop ballad into a sprawling shoe-gaze rock tune. It seems like a bold move is around every corner for Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth. Great fun.
AME Dream House
FOR years Berlin duo Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer have owned a specific corner of the deep house genre. Their style is all about slow-motion, trance-like melodies and emotive chord progressions. Their strong focus on beautiful harmonies has served them well and enabled the guys to deliver a few hits along the way. And while this album is often rather good, the biggest complaint is a lack of a trueblue, knock your socks off “moment”. In the past that was a song such as Rej, an absolute classic. That is the joy and despair of writing such a great tune — the rest might struggle to keep up with its pace. However, there is plenty to like on Dream House. They do an excellent job of injecting some variety into the set, from the bouncy funk of Queen of Toys to the heavy tech house of Gerne, to minimal techno, pop, downtempo electronica, Krautrock and something approaching pop music ( Blind Eye). Helliconia is a standout with its flickering melodies and occasionally heaving bass hits. Chillwave tune Future Antico shows a willingness to get out of their comfort zone. This one rewards the listener should they give it a few listens.