27 August 2010

Padang Food Tigers - go down, moses (2010, Under The Spire)

UK duo consisting of S. A. Grady and S. J. Lewis (two thirds of Rameses III), based in the London area, Padang Food Tigers offers here a debut release as a short ep of three instrumental tracks for a total length just below the ten minutes mark.

It reminds me of the softest parts of Scott Tuma's discography along early albums by Collections of Colonies of Bees, Rameses III on their most bucolic side or the intimate instrumental folk parts of Bridget St. John ("Ask me no questions" era).
 

Soft, bucolic, instrumental, intimate, folk, using banjo, piano, organ and bells, including nature field recordings, Padang Food Tigers build delicate atmospheres with a special attention towards the tiny detail. The beauty of their compositions and textures is simply disarming.

An open window, sitting on a chair inside, chimes in the frame agitated by the wind, a lonely bird singing for himself, peaceful setup for an opening banjo forty seconds later, helped by celestial organ sounds and a violin. The sun seems already low but not devoid or some charm, for the evocation of a devouring melancholy later expressed but subtle notes of piano. With a suggestive and poetic approach, the duo draws the contour and the ambiance without imposing a melody or an obvious down to earth folk approach. This self-titled opening track is a wonderful envelope of sounds, more cinematographic than just a song.

Burning wood in a clearing sheltered by a close rock face, a cuckoo calling in the neighborhood or maybe this one is just in my garden, voices of kids probably playing next to a river below in the valley, while the banjo played with nice subdued melodica, piano and waves of sound as agreement, like with certain Yuichiro Fujimoto tracks, yet simple such compositions transmit a lot of past, present and future emotions and interact with your own perception of the reality around you.

"Corn Stem King" could be an intro of one of these magnificent slowcore songs Carissa's Wierd offered on their discography, the way instruments contribute and cover themselves, creating strange interaction and we end up with field recordings of people under the rain 

"Go Down, Moses" is a terrific debut release by a band who impresses while just trying to stay humble and capture the substance of their natural inspiration.



No comments:

Post a Comment