Fancy and Spook often adhered to the “laws” of Electro, tight rhythm patterns alongside barren machine bars. The LP espouses a unique style. It is undeniably recognizable as Electro, but the movements and shifts explored by Fancy and Spook test and push the rigidity of the parent genre.
Fancy and Spook are synonymous with Electro in Glasgow. The duo have been serving up their brand of clinical electronics to crowds in Scotland for several years. But, despite having a well-formed live set, the twosome have few records to date. After outings on Heatray Records this Scot and Irishman team have slowed in output, their last 12” being a split affair with fellow Heatray artist Ditone. It is to Tabernacle Records that Fancy and Spook now return for a mini LP, Fiends Without Faces.
“Forest With A Creature” opens. Beats are brusque and cold, chords are mechanical and the atmosphere is one of isolation. But the mood is not all darkness. “Hideous Dwarf” maintains those terse trademark snares but melodies shift, warmth entering alongside icier winds. Tempos are lowered for “Amorphous Form.” Bared bars are further stripped, panging clipped drums stalk as echoes are transmitted into outer regions. The flip introduces a much different beast. “Invisible Creatures” is a meandering, bulging work of oscillator abstraction. That same experimental element continues, that ever stark sound being sculpted into machine worked shapes. “Things In The Jungle” sees the Glasgow partnership leave the laboratory. Some of the usual sounds associated with the genre are present, but the product is much dreamier. Reverberations bubble over bass in this morphing Electro hallucinogen.
In past releases, Fancy and Spook often adhered to the “laws” of Electro, tight rhythm patterns alongside barren machine bars. The LP espouses a unique style. It is undeniably recognizable as Electro, but the movements and shifts explored by Fancy and Spook test and push the rigidity of the parent genre.
Fiends Without Faces is available on Tabernacle.
