Anna-Lynne Williams and Matt Brown, now resident in Seattle, have been working on TRESPASSERS WILLIAM and other projects over at least ten years. The first TRESPASSERS WILLIAM album "Different Stars" was released on Bella Union in 2004. This new EP is released in the UK by a label with a similar commitment to rich aesthetic values.
The central presence is Williams's expressively gentle voice. The song shapes have something of LOW and YO LA TENGO about them, with a little more urgency in the tempos. It's the intelligent confiding intimacy that does it for me. Many aspire, but few can carry it off. Below and around the often multi-tracked voice there is an ambitious set of arrangements that have an American perfectionism about them. Guitar and drum sounds are exquisite. Keyboards, samples and electronica are used with emotional adroitness.
By third track "Red" the introductory vocal layers and crystal chime effects seem to be heading off into some kind of New Age dream-world when some magnificently tough guitar chords surge through like stuttering thunder before summer rain. The light shifts and everything gets very large and luminous. It's a defining moment on the EP. If, for just a moment you were thinking this might be just another twee female voice, it's an awakening with vengeance and righteousness. It's a moment of quiet genius. It's track 3, 29 seconds in. But don't rush there. Take the same gentle path as TRESPASSERS WILLIAM and feel your day open out as you realise where you are.
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The liquid sounds that open "Catch Not Break" are precursors of more sampled gems, nestled around another very good song. "I Could Go Back" is the delicious finale, on a par with STARS "The Night Starts Here" as a self-denying soul's indulgent love song.
TRESPASSERS WILLIAM will be touring Europe in October. The 25 minutes of music on this EP would be very good preparation for the full immersion.
www.trespasserswilliam.com
www.last.fm/music/Trespassers+William
www.myspace.com/trespasserswilliam
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