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By Mike SchillerGet your tweeters ready, people because Signer (a.k.a. Bevan Smith) has somehow made an electronic pop album that avoids bass almost entirely. Sure, there are bass drum hits in that electronic, low-pitched pulse sort of way, but it’s almost shocking how much high-end synth noise Smith adds to his latest release, Next We Bring You the Fire. Despite its almost confrontational title, Next We Bring You the Fire is a passive little thing: Eight tracks of quiet vocals and ambient soundscapes combine over minimal, skittery beats that seem to come and go as they please. There’s not a catchy melody to be found, though it seems that such a statement is less of a criticism for an album like this that’s more focused on the mood and feel of the whole. To the album’s detriment, however, is its best song: “Don’t Be a Forest Cow”. It totally outshines and breaks the feel of the rest of the disc by showing us how fantastic a beat Smith can put together when he puts away his contemplative, artsy shoes and puts on the ones for dancing. Once you hear “Don’t Be a Forest Cow”, everything else may as well be wallpaper—pretty, shiny wallpaper, sure, but wallpaper nonetheless.
— 20 September 2009
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Comments
I wouldn’t usually bother writing but frankly I am head over heels with this album, passionately loving it. I agree that ‘Don’t be a forest cow’ is outstanding but i would compare it more to a cherry on top, rather than a track which eclipses the other songs.Perhaps as the albums final song it alludes to the ‘next’ (not ‘now’) of the albums title? there is a wonderful tension to this particular song, I agree, but I have found my repeated listens of all the songs totally rewarding and refreshing. They are so nuanced and oddly distant yet close. Restrained yet also emotion grabbing. The swooping dissolves into the psychedelic, the toe tapping halcyon beauty of ‘Nord all black keys’, the talent of signer who uses synthesisers as true instruments (understanding it seems its expressive capabilities) rather than falling into the trap of cliched 80’s pastiche. I could go on.If I could rate with stars they’d join the others in the sky!
Comment by elleen — September 22, 2009 @ 5:40 am