Language of Shapes
Getintothis’ Patrick Clarke takes us from Glasgow to Turin to Korea in this week’s Unknown Pleasures, our weekly round-up of all the new music you could possibly desire.
One of our all-time favourites here at Unknown Pleasures was the wistful, landscaping folk-pop of enigmatic Scottish singer-songwriter The Son(s), and it was a chance-glance at one of his Soundcloud reposts that brought fellow Scotsman C Duncan to our attention.
Thank God that glance happened, for Duncan (the C stands for Christopher, in case you were wondering) has a something very special of his own on offer in the form of his latest single Here to There.
On the track the Glaswegian unfurls a four minutes that thrives on a counterpoint of direct, affecting Beta Band vocals and the shrouded, murky pop of a thick, propulsive backing that itself leans equally toward pop and post-punk, the end result a completely enthralling one.
Experimental Turin-based electro duo Niagara meanwhile are anything but direct on Else, their latest single cut from their sophomore LP, out this April. On first impression it’s a baffling affair, but has an incredible amount to reveal when given the attention it deserves.
A twist of electronic pop that’s somewhere between Sleigh Bells and Liars (the latter of whom provide remix duties on the B-side), the track thumps and contorts along on a twisted rhythm, distorted vocals and a swirl of texture giving way to a remorseless hammer of evocative, unadulterated noise at the track’s final third.
The accompanying video, too, is impeccably off-kilter:
As if all that wasn’t mental enough, South Korea-based Language of Shapes seem to have gone so far with their indefinability as to have invented an entire new genre on their own. The four-piece, only one quarter Korean in membership, are purveyors of self-styled ‘psych-fi sci-folk’, and remarkably enough it works!
Hazy mandolin and djembe-lines drive new single Light On, complemented perfectly by Tristram Burden‘s shaky low vocal, joined in off-kilter harmony by his girlfriend J.E. Seuk as the four-piece progress.
For all their eccentricity it’s a moving piece, hinting in a baroque-folk bent towards the kind of swelling emotion Arcade Fire used to be so good at before they disappeared up their own arses, but with a crucial, affable understatement.
The track comes from the band’s second album Mother Mountain, and it’s well worth a listen in it’s entirety, Into the Veil a particular standout from these bold, entrancing eccentrics.
