Dan Le Sac is mainly known for providing the space between the words in Scroobious Pip‘s thoughtful meanderings. His new album features a number of established and up and coming vocalists including Merz, Emma-Lee Moss (Emmy the Great), Sarah Williams White, B Dolan, Joshua Idehen, How about Beth and Pete Hefferan.
‘Space Between The Words’ starts with the vocals of electronic folkster Merz, drifting and wistful, the sounds get clunkier as we build in to the next track. In ‘Play Along’ the harmonics tune up, with Sarah Williams White’s dulcet tones, the track plays along, wobbling bassline, squelchy and non-chalant as the vocals trip lightly over the beats, the sounds swirl, splattering, fresg abd vibrant heartbeats. Emma Lee Moss takes precedence on ‘Memorial’, her vocals are reminiscent of Beth Gibbon‘s; dramatic and atmospheric, her echos provide a sultry, ghostly frontdrop to the epic and ambient fine tunings. ‘One of us is going to lose this war.. is it going to be you or me.’
‘Good Time Gang War’, takes a sludgy darker turn, the lyrics speak of gang wars, ‘we left a lot of good men out on the dancefloor’, the squelching sludge, a pulsing forward motion trajectory like an aimless creature. The bleeps speed up, becoming almost techno, as electronic breaks and rhymes move darkly around the floor. A good time for ‘Hold Yourself Lightly’ to kick in and lift the gloom, little tin can style chopstix, glockenspiel, chimes and percussion enter, a curiosity shop of sliding breaks and slow tempo, golden light rays and firecracker sounds. ‘Beside’. Enter vocals of Dan Le Sac, harmonious and comforting, similar to Badly Drawn Boy, ‘every time we leave our home, we open doors to our lives’, the vibe, resigned and peaceful and vibrant, ‘we will find someone to sleep beside.’
With stand out track, ‘Cherubs’, there are bells, harmonium, as if the track could have been made in a kitchen with an array of pots, pans and broken clocks, nice tone, paler and piano tinted, about cherubs, swooping down to kiss your head, sang by Peter Hefferan, from Pete and the Pirates, this version of Arab Strap‘s ‘Cherubs’, projects doleful, woeful, dejected abandonment.
On this album, each track is a composition of original beats with different artists providing the words on top of the music. The tracks explore percussive, atmospheric sounds, of meandering diversions and cul de sacs, fast, slow and fast again. It is a pulsating crunkfest of whrrrring electronic samples, post club beats and breaks. Non-boring, un-repetitive inventive sounds. It is really worth checking out the soundcloud to ‘Beats between the Words’, for the ambiguous, yet perfectly symmetrical shapes, which say a lot about the album, holding it together, it’s impressive invention and unpredictable mix of beats.
[Rating:3.5]
