Americana UK
There are many ways to experiment with pop music. For Tim Elsenburg et al, it would seem start from creating a musical space where anything is possible and then fill that space with blocks of whatever they like. ‘Kalypso’ progresses to layers of voices rising like a ghostly hymn from the church of his heart before segregating into fragments - all this started with plucked strings and what I’m informed is a tuned dishwasher that sounds like lift machinery pressed into action, whirring mechanical tunes dervishly spinning, vocals with vapour trails of banjo resolving into choruses crashing into dissonance and thick-headed rhythm, a beautiful respite on the keys of a piano before the next wave which is the crash of harmony.
The banjo that provides the kernel of ‘Future Perfect Tense’ and opens up the world of Americana, the song with sheets of sculptured sound adds shock when a prog like figure appears taking it to a very strange place, and again Elsenburg is opening up the possibilities. A rippling tone pulse of strings describes ‘Joy Maker Machinery’ and this time harmonica and slide guitar humanises the sounds as the vocals pile on layer after multi-track until the machinery all but disappears, the rippling glissando returns to link the two themes. The closing ‘There Will It End’ again uses massed voices in a kind of hymnal with sonorous bass clarinet solemnly walking the vocals outside where it retires to leave the voices alone in celebration.
It’s quite a journey from the spoken word dialog of the opening ‘Here It Begins’ and the repeating patterns of the Fridge like ‘Truth Only Smiles’. The variety of textures and constant returns to recognizable melodies make the listening experience a kind of rollercoaster from the vertiginous bliss to the fear of falling. Elsenburg keeps everything strapped in tight and adds enough switchbacks to keep the whole thing on track with just enough thrills and frills.
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