Serendipity strikes again! While researching something totally unrelated on the web the other day, I stumbled across Autoclave Records, the home of CALAMATEUR. A micro label based partly in Beauly, in the north of Scotland, Autoclave seem to be releasing an exciting and eclectic range of titles.
As part of Glasgow lo-fi outfit Oldsolar, Andrew Howie has previously met with critical acclaim, but this solo project should, if there's any justice out there, make him a household name.
His 'proper' debut album “The Old Fox Of '45” was released early last year, and these two internet-only albums, 'Tiny Pushes Volumes 1 & 2', should cement his growing reputation.
Oh yes, and did I mention these two albums are free to download (yes, that's free folks) from the Autoclave website. If that's not incentive enough, I don't know what is.
The first collection of songs, 'Tiny Pushes Vol.1 (How To Be Childlike), comes in at a little over 17 minutes. Although not a lot of time to fit 10 tracks into, Calamateur moves freely between the Mogwai-like post-rock of 'Simpleton' and the highly infectious 'Hey Baby', to the hushed acoustic gorgeousness of 'Everyone Is The One', to the dark instrumental 'Open Your Eyes', which opens with contrasting samples on capital punishment before spiralling into a bass-filled dirge.
The recently released second set of songs, 'Tiny Pushes Vol.2 (All The Wrong Buttons), is a far more accomplished album. As with Vol.1, this collection of songs needs to be listened as a whole, and although again on the short side (these 10 songs run at 28 minutes) the album is full of uplifting beats, textured samples and heartbreaking simplicity.
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From the vinyl scratch of the Aphex Twin-influenced opener 'Upper', to 'Nectarine Juice', an acoustic ambient masterpiece, to the truly stunning electro-acoustic ballads 'Belong' and 'Don't Understand', this album exudes confidence and quality in equal measure.
'Belong', especially, deserves further mention. A piano led masterpiece, in a similar vein to Coldplay's 'Yellow', this track is the obvious single, and if released would surely catapult Calamateur to national acclaim.
The album closes with the wonderful 'Akatombo (The Red Butterfly)', which sounds like an ancient electro Japanese nursery rhyme, and the crackling, atmospheric start to 'All That I Can Say' gives way to a string laden sing-a-long chorus that'll have have you swaying along in seconds.
Yes, there's a lot of sampling and electronic noodling going on, and the occasional self-indulgent recording quality can irritate at times, but there's more ideas in these two albums than Travis or Franz Ferdinand could muster in a year.
Believe me, it won't be long before you're asking yourselves the question: “How come two albums this good are free?” Literally and metaphorically.
(www.autoclaverecords.com)
(www.calamateur.com)
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