It would seem that Drew Brown, the guy behind the debut EP/10″, ‘Tiago La Is Losing The Plot’ is doing his best to remain aloof, and where there is intrigue rumour and diehard fans will grow. In one version of the tale, he stars as the wunderkind who has worked on indie projects under the various monikers of ‘Cokedance’ and ‘Paper Jones’ and more recently, hooked up with Beck on his ‘The Information’ album. His (multiple) MySpace pages list a number of countries he’s currently flirting with, and listeners kindly share hard to secure musical releases that have attracted a cultish following online (some of them through his inclusion as the soundtrack to a Suicide Girls podcast).
Now he’s signed to Lex Records, with label mates like Boom Bip, Subtle, Fog and Dangermouse and it just seems, really, a bit of a misfit. Not only that, it seems that since his signing to Lex all his other profiles have vanished. It’s hard to situate him at Lex, not only because his profile is entirely absent from Lex Records’ list of signed artists, but also because there’s nothing hip hop, or even ‘indie’ hip hop about this EP at all. It is though, a gentle, beautiful, indie/folk soundtrack for a film that doesn’t exist; a concept album about a boy, coming of age, falling in (and out) of love, experimenting with drugs and madness, to find himself on the other end. Excuse me here for thinking it’s a somewhat random inclusion to the list.
All that aside, ‘Tiago La Is Losing The Plot’, is a mature offering, nicely crafted with well-honed storytelling skills at play. The opener, ‘Lucien Guide’ has a touch of Pink Floyd to it, with reverb and whispered layers at work on the voice, and a psychedelic journey guitar underpinning the narration that sets the scene for the songs that follow. ‘Ages for Avedon’ kicks in with a swift change in mood, the guitar is now more folksy and acoustic, the voice more pop, the drum kick a happy heartbeat. ‘Jettisoned (interlude)’ continues in this vein, as the mid-way point to the story, with some delightful piano and flute added to the mix. ‘Hostage’ continues the tale of teen trouble, with just the right amount of artifice and affect. ‘Casuality At Stative Square’ increases the drama with strings and other atmospheric touches as the EP reaches the final peak. It all culminates with the postscript track, ‘Tiago La’ proving that, for this young artist, this is really not the end but the beginning of an intriguing career and one to keep an ear out for, if you can.
Renae Mason
