Part Joe Meek and part Penn & Teller, Glasgow duo Vernon & Burns make exhaustive use of all available facets of sound, samples, field recordings, music, voice – for idiosyncratic creations that dwell between old-fashioned radio plays and fringe experimental music. Housed in raised copper packaging and part of the Dutch label Staalplaat’s Mort Aux Vaches series, this hour-long entry was made for Amsterdam radio in 2007. Best taken as a whole, it’s a stirring collage of far-flung material.
It’s also slow going at first, as one tries to make sense of everything one is hearing. The first track employs an unnerving sample from the infamous cult-classic film Possession, and things only get stranger from there. Typically adorned with sprawling titles, the 21 tracks are as likely to bury a Sinatra number in the backdrop as intertwine distorted speech and muffled electronics. Towards the end are some comparatively accessible moments, though: the all too fleeting “Honeymoon Static” is a romantic pop-lounge standout, whereas “The Lullaby Left Hand” grafts samples from the Humphrey Bogart film noir Dead Reckoning to buzzing musical discord. Liquid bubbles throughout ‘Here Come the Intangibles’, and unexpectedly snappy beats surface on the playful “Doing Quisby”.
For the most part, this is exhausting as well as exhilarating to take in. It’s moody and esoteric, wildly adventurous and continually surprising.
Doug Wallen
