The Glaswegian Shadazz label’s sporadic release schedule heats up, with two near consecutive releases both featuring Luke Fowler from Lied Music. The Heteradelph’s Daughter is an easier listening proposition than Lost Lake, although there is a similarity between the two releases, in the playfulness and deftness of touch with which the trio move between indie-pop ditties and esoteric electronic soundscapes. After a five-year hiatus, Scots musical journeymen Stevie Jones and Fowler are joined by Cara Tomile, whose considerable vocal prowess is captured on three out of the six tracks.
I’d hazard a guess that Rude Pravo have studied this image and accompanying text, outlining the woeful tale of an disabled innocent turfed out by his oversaturated family in fine Dickensian fashion. “Duplex Child” refers to this boy, born in 1857. With a muscular krautrock-esque rhythm and beguiling keyboard textures, this could almost be Belle & Sebastian mixed with Stereolab. “Preludes” is reminiscent of European home-studio auteurs such as Die Weltraumforscher and Harald “Sack” Ziegler. Wonky Moogs and renaissance Oboe mesh into a sound that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early A-Musik compilation. “Melting Man” brings a big bottom end and handclaps to the fore and adds them to wonky electronics and smooth vocals for a tune that could be the bastard offspring of the Too Pure, City Centre Offices and Brainfeeder labels.
The accompanying press release states;
“This EP documents a series of social and artistic processes which eschews both the individualism of computer based music and the asceticism of composed music, creating instead a Janus headed creature” the seemingly normal Heteradelph’s daughter”
If “Fine Dark Lad” is the sound of the trio eschewing contemporary music practices, I’ll have more of that, please. Medieval overtones, molasses melodies and a joyous, yet low-key, interplay between male and female vocals build into a miniature gothic cathedral of a tune, where Rude Pravo find their calling.
Oliver Laing
