Having missed out through a heavy bout of flu to the Twisted Folk double whammy of The Earlies and Hem the other week I’ve had to make do with silvery beer mats with which to enjoy the fruits of these bands’ recent labours.
While Hem’s ‘Eveningland’ cements all the good work established on ‘Rabbit Songs’ The Earlies are still to show beyond last year’s debut long player ‘These Were The Earlies’. Their brand of pop Americana laced with Beach Boys harmonies and ambient cinemascope arrangements have drawn varied comparisons from Mercury Rev to Mum! I’ll throw in my lot with The Wondermints as well: in other words a band that revels in a beguiling willingness to experiment with instrumentation and to confound listeners’ expectations.
The single ‘Bring It Back Again’ starkly illustrates the point. While the main track contains the sparky but airy, frothy and layered harmonic drive of the poppier side of the band it’s the experimental instrumental ‘Sometimes Tomorrow Pt.2’ that signposts all the other directions they may take for their sophomore effort.
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Repeated plays reveals the track’s logical structure, its juxtaposed reinterpretation of the verse/chorus of ‘Bring It Back Again’ not as contrasting as initial plays suggest. Or to put in another way I don’t think they’re going to stride off too far left-field like Radiohead have done on more recent output.
Then again it’s not often I’m right so I could be wrong again, but half the fun is in the anticipation.
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