Oh his debut, under the radar, LP, the adumbrate singer/songwriter Benjamin Shaw composes an unframed series of pliable, dilatory meditations about modern life, and all its many foibles.
You could say that ‘There’s Always Hope There’s Always Cabernet‘ is really one long, shambling, soundtrack of elegiac mood swings, as each track melts, melds or disappears into the next; such is the lack of clear demarcations.
Masked and shrouded in an efflux of fleeting interrupted radio transmissions, staggererd guitar and languid stolen scrapes of melodious naunces; Shaw’s vocals are kept quite low and haunted in the mix: almost murmuring and fragile. Sulking between, easy target, dressed-up broadsides at the government – “And you shouldn’t blame the Tories even if they’re vile/And you shouldn’t fill their lungs with water just to make me smile” – on the Darren Hayman-esque breezy ‘How To Test The Depth Of A Well’, and the Kitchen-sink eulogy to mundanity – “Something nice for supper/A house and then a dog/Pat its silly head” – on ‘The Birds Chirp And The Sun Shines’.
Shaw’s influences, from Odd Nosdam to Broken Shoulder and the Neutral Milk Hotel can all be traced amongst the song’s free spirited vibes. However, both ‘Home’ and ‘Hulk’ display shades and characteristics of Sparklehorse – no bad thing, I might add.
An intresting lo-fi wander through a charged collage of flucturating synth-triggered malaise, and surreptitous avant-folk. Shaw’s experimental montages are proof of an emerging talent.
Due: Out Now
[Rating:3.5]
