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5 out of 10
"Tell Me I Can" is the new EP from James Mowbray & Leiam Sullivan released on the Four: Twenty imprint. At first the names Mowbray and Sullivan put together conjure images of an outdated stand up comedy duo, yet Mowbray and Sullivan certainly aren't funny for all the right reasons. The problem is they aren't particularly sharp either. I'll explain.
"Come Out of the Shade" builds from a thumping conga beat with synth lines and deeper drum beats into a heart of Electro darkness. A return to a forgotten Dubtopia, traveling down a river in a shot up gunboat, the black mirror-like water reflecting the moonless night sky, every now again reflecting a pink flowering explosion as a flair goes up, briefly lighting the surrounding jungle from which alien howls emanate: the boat is traveling toward the temple where the High Priest holds court. The track chops into a more Dream Pop affair yet once inside the temple the beats become less organic, shifting to a code of one zero one zero one zero; evidently Tron and THX 1138 have also been invited to the court of the High Priest. The deep grooves play out and keep going into hypnotic undertones that suddenly turn around and get harder.
"Free Harmonic Blues" has a more old school Techno vibe similar to DJ Enne or Shenoda, still holding a Dream Pop quality, yet sounding like it could fit onto the soundtrack of a Phillip K Dick movie adaptation (See 'Bladerunner' or 'Total Recall'). The track is almost trancey and deep in detail with twittering piano lines but already the downfall of the overall experience is apparent: it is in desperate need of a remix as it seriously goes nowhere, even after a full 5 minutes. it breaks down to the underlying bass line going for an almost lounge groove quality, taking a trip to the temple's cocktail bar for a quick Blue Hawaiian with Tron before delving deeper into the high priest's lair.
"Katabatic" is blessed with a stomping bass coming from a much harder direction mixed in with some egg shaker rhythms, building up component by component. Now a stride down a corridor to the main auditorium is on the menu, where the High Priest's sermon is full swing, his devotes writhing in front of him. Catchy synth lines sounding all so similar to a Roger Sanchez Techno House track get involved, yet a lost xylophone playing eunuch seems to wander onto the podium and begins making quite an unnecessary noise. Meanwhile amp fiddling concubines toy away in pits below the alter filled with snake like piles of jack leads while the high priests stands high above, raising his arms to the fanatics before him. The track falls away to its base details before rushing back up but unfortunately the lost eunuch seems to have wandered over to a vacant keyboard and continues to degrade the overall sound.
On "Oort" the High Priest takes the sermons subject matter to a more serious level, beckoning Tron to the alter ,who duly pushes the retarded eunuch aside and unleashes a cascade of 8 bit sound bytes creating a Joy Division cum Eurhythmics masquerade that descends in key and leaps right up again. Was that Gary Numan lurking at the back of the auditorium or just another paranoid android? "SCR" is grime fest in the dead of night; the devotees are now fully entranced and as such lose all inhibitions along with any moral integrity they once retained. THX-1138 steps up and joins in on electric piano giving a Retro House feel while the eunuch finds his way over to a microphone to offers some passable feminine vocals. During "Tell Me I Can" two Francophile androids bearing a striking resemblance to Daft Punk appear from the shadows. Yet they seem less than impressed with the scene before them with a more than familiar synth riff that rolls on and on. That blasted eunuch is at it again, attempting to sing in Hindi over the top, making for a cut price quasi psychedelic experience. "Untitled" is a return to the pre sermon cocktail bar, where a depressed THX-1138 is now drowning his sorrows with Jaeger Bombs. A repetitive mix of synth and so-laid-back-they're-almost-horizontal grooves echo down the corridor until you finally get back to the gun boat and keep on heading up the river, not entirely sure of what to make of the High Priest's display. As you sail away Christian Prommer's remix of "Tell Me I Can" echoes out of the trees, a broken promise of what the High Priest could have been preaching.
Over poetic narratives aside, Mowbray and Sullivan have evidently worked hard on these tracks but there seems to be a lost direction as to who they are meant for. The casual listener to put on their iPod? The dance floor devotee at 3am? Or Mowbray and Sullivan themselves? In themselves the tracks are great but they seem to be 3 minutes longer than they need to be. Only the resolute hardcore or extremely intoxicated would truly treasure such long tracks with so few changes. What should have been an EP of tight productions seems to have turned into an album of raw material that could still be turned into tight and impressive product given a little thought to the economy of each track's sound.
Listen: www.myspace.com/fourtwentyrecordings
Tracklist:
1. Tell Me I Can
2. Tell Me I Can (Christian Prommer Remix)
3. Untitled
4. Free Harmonic Blues
5. Come Out Of The Shade
6. Katabatic
7. Oort
8. SCR
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