Silk Cut's new EP 'Panda'
Tāmaki Makaurau based ensemble, Silk Cut’s latest release ‘Panda’ comprises five songs and is a more up-tempo and direct EP than the first. The drums and bass widen their scope, each song in turn plying a distinctly different groove. Guitar provides much of the scenery - sparkling, vivid, and commanding - adding economical melodies or laconic asides here and there.
Recorded, engineered and mastered at The Lab by Olly Harmer during the same sessions as ‘Astronaut’, the band personnel and roles are therefore the same - Andrew Thorne (Guitars, Sequencers, Vocals), Aidan Phillips (bass, vocals), and Mike Burrows (drums, vocals).
The opening track ‘Run (Steal Away)’ is riff-based pop-rock, with all three instrumentalists clearly represented. It depicts the convergence of home comforts and wanderlust in the mind’s orbit. The nearest one eclipses the other, causing a fleeting moment of resolve.
The second track ‘Build a Fire’ paraphrases an imaginary episode of ’Shadows of Fear’. It accompanies a furtive, unsettling theme with an ominous sound and feel, slowly giving way to a thunderous squall in the middle - from Auckland to Dunedin on a howling northerly.
Track three ‘Lighthouse’ arrives before the weather clears. Recorded in soft-focus, it is the sound of obscured visibility. This is straight-forward, orchestrated pop-rock, alternately sweeping and driving. Perhaps metaphorical by the implication of false promise, it tells the old mariner’s tale of siren song and inevitable disaster.
If ‘The Onedin Line’ seems an unlikely reference point, it’s worth considering that James Onedin might have been quite handy with an electric guitar for all we’ll ever know.
Track four ‘The Walk of a Dead Man’ is a film noir cartoon, presenting a stream of archetypal characters and scenes. This one has a strict and spacious feel with an angular, moody guitar melody. The rhythm section pushes, rides, and pulls the groove along as if to force the observer’s gaze from one image to the next.
The last track ‘Wish You Were Lovely’ derives from the unrelenting 808 sequencer beat that runs from start to finish. What emerged sounds like club music. Moreover, the music of two distinctly different clubs separated by about twenty years - Hacienda and UFO juxtaposed. Mostly instrumental, the brief vocal sections return to one of the competing motives in the opening number. This time the comforts of home extend far beyond the dwelling. Perhaps you can have it both ways after all.
Of course, the best description of Silk Cut is the one you hear … listen below.
