The melting pot of inconsistent styles make this album a frustrating listening experience and it just isn’t clear at whom Faint Hearted is aimed.
Together with the sadly overlooked Ground EP by G.H., Miles Whittaker’s Facets was one of two releases (Demdike Stare’s triptych aside) that kicked off a new era of Modern Love vinyl releases characterized by a muck-smeared sound palette, disturbing tone and bleak outlook packed within evocative monochrome imagery printed on high-quality reverse-board sleeves. It was also a compelling and varied four tracker in its own right, tautly edited and bursting with distended and mashed takes on propulsive house and techno that would later be followed by equally innovative releases by Demdike Stare, Andy Stott and others.
Having released material under an array of aliases, recently including two LP’s of far out and eccentric Radiophonic Workshop style sound experiments and diversions under the name Suum Cuique (one on the seemingly pointless sub-label Young Americans and the other on Modern Love itself), a full solo album under the Miles name was an intriguing proposition.
Sadly, Faint Hearted fails to fully deliver on that promise, getting off to a less than glowing start with three tracks that seem to get lost in a quagmire of self-indulgence. Although it’s no “Flawed,” with its tense thrum, dancefloor groove and shifting structure, “Lebensform” does at least partially recall Facets with its thunderous rhythms and echoing tribal beats but it really doesn’t go anywhere and isn’t shifty and unappealing in that good way that Andy Stott has mastered.
But then witness the painfully dull “Irreligious” that grumbles like irritable bowel syndrome for nearly seven minutes, displaying a lack of progression that could bore SND fans, or the directionless “Status Narcissism” that clatters aimlessly for another six minutes where three would have pushing it. At least the power-grid ambiance, monochrome, retro-thrum and skittering percussion of “Sense Data” is better, recalling the hazier and more evocative moments of Byetone’s Death Of A Typographer.
Luckily, the second half of Faint Hearted is a major improvement, although that’s possibly because it sounds more like Demdike Stare than the rest of the tracks. A particular case in point is “Rejoice” that would have sat happily among the demonic apothecary of Elemental piano arpeggio clouded by distant drum-beats/artillery fire/footsteps, echoing clatters and crashes. “Arcane Thought Pattern,” one of only two tracks with any kind of traditional melody, takes haunted, minimal, bowed strings and sets them against the ticking of a metronome, building layer by layer with a tapestry of sonic thuds, plucked strings, deep piano keys and finally a nail biting swell of searing, distorted snares and misfiring lasers.
Probably the finest moments of Faint Hearted take place right at the end of the album. The short, two-minute intermission “Queuing” is a gorgeously assembled field recording with a palpable sense of place and immersive atmosphere, whilst “Loran Dreams” is an appropriately hallucinogenic mix of techno strings, waves of analogue arpeggio synths, a warm bass pulse and scything pads. Whittaker hasn’t sounded this uplifting in any of his guises for a long time.
The melting pot of inconsistent styles make this album a frustrating listening experience and it just isn’t clear at whom Faint Hearted is aimed. Fans of experimental music might be better off picking up either of the Suum Cuique LPs, whereas those looking for a solid, murky groove would be better off with his more concise and compelling Facets EP. It feels like Faint Hearted tries to combine the two and consequently fails to exert a compelling identity. Instead it’s a mishmash of occasionally quite lovely tracks that don’t break any new ground and never quite gel as an LP.
If it had built upon the strengths of his EP then sure, it might have ended up being compared to Andy Stott’s stellar Luxury Problems, but since there’s precious little of that material in existence and a rich seam just waiting to be mined that might have been a good thing.
Faint Hearted is available on Modern Love. [Release page]
