Previously featured on the Planet Mu roster, Kristian Craig Robinson’s (Capitol K) album Island Row has now been licensed and consequently re-released on XL Recordings.
Treated guitars and vocals feature prominently throughout the album, which make for a welcome twist to the tried and tested electronic by numbers formula.
“City” tempts us with echoing guitar harmonics and chiming keyboards before vaulting into the song proper with a tumbling bassline and piano tinkerings. “Capitol Beat Sticky” is a similarly styled effort with all manner of quirky guitar frills and vocal oddities swimming through the thick and dub influenced bassline. “Pillow heads” in an altogether different direction with nasal vocals and childishly playful melodies smothered with stop start percussion and various backwards instrumentation.
“Anon” introduces a lazy groove that builds to a mesmerizing climax with an array of time-stretched breakbeats and cleverly arranged vocal samples matched with live vocals. Once again the crafty live guitar playing elevates the track above being merely another computer-sequenced workout.
“Soundwaves” is essentially a non-electronic track, sticking to the conventional guitar, bass, drums, and vocals format. Slightly adrift amongst its neighbours, the track’s omission would have possibly strengthened the album.
“Darussalum” sports waves of understated guitar finger pickings much in the vein of some of Tortoise’s best work. Heat is reminiscent of US surf-post-rock outfit Cul De Sac, with its dreamy blend of accoustic guitar finger-pickings, tight percussion backing and delicate vocal delivery.
“Monster’s” buzz-saw guitars and driving beats boldly provide a more rocky piece before the closing Duffle Coat resets the mood back to melancholy, with mellow shards of Rhodes piano hovering above a subtle percussion layer.
“In Robinson’s style” there exists definite similarities to dynamic pop-electronica artists Max Tundra and Cornelius, having the common ground of haphazard tapestries of accoustic instruments heaped with sequenced rhythms, and atmospheric pop collages. In Island Row Robinson has skillfully combined elements of the electronic, indie and post-rock genres to create a unique and captivating work. Whilst utilising a definite lo-fi aesthetic, Island Row sports a wealth of wonderful analog ideas that are sure to please even the most digital of people.
