Titularly snappy ? No. Crammed with catchy hits ? No. Soundtrack to good times and sunshines ? No. If this simple but negatively inclined flow chart is putting you off the potential accrual of this album then you might want to skip to the next review. This is the second Sandfingers record I have reviewed and it won’t be the last as one of their many talents is prolificity. Prolificness ? Prolificocity ? So have Sandfingers moved on and abandoned their noisy, art-rock experimental stuff and decided to stop recording in railway tunnels and embrace the LOUD LOUD joy of brick limit mastering ? Nope. This release was described to me as being “like vinyl” which of course it is, except for not being on vinyl. No need to split hairs. The first half needs no background information…it’s stuff that they have previously recorded but performed live for the admirable Pete Jackson (over at Dandelion Radio…one of the best streaming radio station on the internought). It’s consistently good and ends with the spectacular “Concrete Rainbow” which is a masterpiece of battered, low bit rate synths and a sleazy, dissonant sax solo. There isn’t a single moment that I didn’t enjoy even though I had to listen to it in bright sunshine (when it is much more suited to being listened to whilst huddled in a fallout shelter watching rats chew off the fleshy parts of your feet). The second half of this virtual record is also excellent and consists of new material. Drill like guitar sounds, live electronics, more saxophone and the distinctively weird surreal stories that get crooned / intoned and sung like disjointed nursery rhymes over the top of this throbbing mess. I guess some people would get upset about getting their art called a throbbing mess but Sandfingers couldn’t steer their ghost-ship like music in any weirder or more tangential direction than this while still keeping it in the territory of music and not just experimental noise. As with all their releases it is available for free and if you haven’t availed yourself of some yet, then this is a great place to start. If you have heard them then this is fresh and different enough to keep you cryptically amused and it also gives a surreal twist to household chores, shopping and other boring shit.
Kim Monaghan
