With less corner-cutting ruthlessness, Revelationes is low-key instrumental jazz flecked with pop that is both breezy and broody.
Tape is a trio that came out of the woods to gather in Stockholm, consisting of brothers Andreas and Johan Berthing and Tomas Hallonsten. Andreas is particularly active on the minimal electronics scene and bassist Johan, a member of multiple groups, co-founded this quality boutique label. Hallonsten is a multi-instrumentalist boasting a hefty jazz and rock discography. A handful of sleepy drummers have been drafted to keep the beat on six of the seven tracks.
If this were a few years back and the present critic were a lazy one, he would immediately have categorized Tape‘s music as “post rock”. With less corner-cutting ruthlessness, Revelationes is low-key instrumental jazz flecked with pop that is both breezy and broody.
“Companions” is strongly suggestive of Steely Dan and “The Wild Palms” presents a sanguine, southern California mien, but neither bear the least resemblance to contemporary, retromaniacal epigones. The magic of Tape, what makes the band so eminently likeable, is the elegance of its touch. Each of the seven tunes on Revelationes is downright catchy, with the guitar, vibraphone, piano or organ playing the kind of melodies that immediately get stuck in the head and smooth the brow. Like a score being played off tea-stained sheet music, the trio’s execution is exact but just a little fuzzy and curling at the edges—or right in the very middle, as on “Gone Gone”—the result of the judicious application of a little laptop technology.
With this, their fifth studio album, it’s hard to imagine Tape could get any better.
Revelationes is available on Häpna. [Release page]
