South American lo-fi art rock. Yes yes y’all. I never thought that I would be writing this phrase but I never thought mobile phones would take off so with that addendum let us proceed. One of the influences mentioned in the introductory email was Nurse With Wound. I am currently “discovering” Nurse With Wound and while not an expert I have to say there is virtually no audible connection between the two, other than a penchant for dropping weird noises in and out of tracks and an avant attitude towards both tuning and timing. Other than these foibles Lingering Last Drops remind me of Syd Barrett jamming with Sonic Youth. The drawled and tuneless vocals initially made me wince and wonder whether this was some kind of joke, but this is not an amateur error, it is a considered tactic to engage jaded ears. Everywhere you look in good music at the moment there seems to be a competition to see who can be the most aged, out of tune, rambling or hissy. If this isn’t a direct challenge to a digital era I don’t know what is, but this is another slice of anti-music that will appeal to people who get a kick out of that sort of outsider thinking. All that said, this is not by any means a perfect album or even a great one. There are too many out of place drum sounds and too few memorable songs to make it a “must have”. Dissonance is an art form and Lingering Last Drops are not quite yet as comfortable or knowledgeable as they need to be but theirs is a developing sound and there are more than enough moments on this album to make it worth getting hold of when it appears. I am also interested enough to go and check out one of his other efforts…why don’t you join me by clicking on this link to a previous album hosted at the excellent Sinewave.
Kim Monaghan
