After spending the last few years exploring the possibilities of electronic sound with such cohorts as Christian Fennesz, Jaki Liebzeit (Can), and Karlheinz Stockhausen, the man behind Pluramon, Marcus Schmickler, has released what might be his most ambitious record to date in Dreams Top Rock. True, there is enough electronic trickery and knob twiddling to go around, but this new disc also brings out the pop wunderkind that was always lying under his skin. Thank goodness he had the wherewithal to let it all hang out this time around as he has dreamed up a fabulous collection of songs.
The first bonafide track, Time For A Lie jumps right out of the gate with a wall of processed guitar, breathy vocals (courtesy of none other but Julee Cruise), and a heartbeat rhythm track which all work together to create a gorgeous melange of sound. While that has you lulled into complacency, the following track Noise Academy chimes in with gently strummed guitar and what sounds like a french horn humming over the top. Then, under its breath, the fuzzed out guitar and beat slowly begin to enter into the picture. Throughout the whole track, these two melodic concepts then fight for space with each other until you are again immersed in the wall of sound that takes center stage by the end. It's not just the beginning of this disc that's this elegaic. The majority of this album also plays in that same warm, heady space that folks like Robin Guthrie and Kevin Shields are prone to roll around in.
All praise must be to Ms. Cruise on this album. After lingering under the wings of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, it is refreshing to hear her out on her own and, I'll tell you, her voice has never sounded better. Instead of that breathy bell-like sound that permeated her other work, she actually sings out this time and makes it sound like she missed out on a more lucrative career fronting a band like Pale Saints or the Cranes (especially on Hello Shadow which sounds wonderfully like an outtake from some 4AD release).
There's only a couple of setbacks to be found within these walls. Although it is refreshing to hear him using live instrumentation on Flageolea, the brushed drums, stand-up bass, and clarinet all add up to a dull independent movie soundtrack feel. In the case of Difference Machine, using the same instrumentation as above, the track is lead by a computerized voice reading out abstract ideas like, "Is there any point of trying to start a new garden here?". Although by the end of the track, the wall of guitars have come in to save the day, it still harkens back too obviously to similar songs by Radiohead and Nobukazu Takemura. Despite those minor, easily skipped over inconveniences, Mr. Schmickler has conjured up a perfectly off-kilter pop record that is sure to be gushing out of the speakers of record stores and hip coffee shops for the next few months. |