Fucking hell. I’m already tired and that’s just from writing the names of the artists and the album title. I wish people would be more considerate. Thankfully it won’t be the longest review as this is sort of an EP but it is, as ever from Bearsuit, an excellent one. The opening track is the sort of weird broken midi jazz that seems to be unique to Bearsuit, while “The First Star” is essentially a beautiful piece of acoustic guitar with…yes some broken weird midi jazz drums. “Toy Joy” sounds like it was constructed (a la Modified Toy Orchestra) from kids toys, a Casio and an accordion but is a beautiful little number that should soundtrack a forgotten black and white kids show refracted back from the moon.
The remixes almost didn’t get a look in with me because (mostly) I don’t care about remixes, unless they manage to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. However, I respect Bearsuit records a huge amount and if they’ve released it I’ll give it my full attention. Just as well really because all three remixers have done sterling work. A spooky rework of AWSTS “Cataract” by Gluid is sparsely decorated with harps and bowed saw and he makes a lovely song into a spooky dub oddity while keeping the essentials. Jim Child reworks “Lost In A Forest of Blank Sportswear” into a clanky insectile affair with an 80’s guitar hero ending. The final mix by Rune Martinsen turns “My Drive” into something you might hear resonating through the broken P.A of a vast industrial mining spacecraft a thousand years from now.
It’s an odd little release being somewhere between EP and album and split between two artists, but I’d buy it just for the cover art.
Kim Monaghan
