The first record of 2012 is here at last! Well, the first one I’ve got round to buying, anyway. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while after buying their (his?) debut EP on a whim at the end of last summer and really enjoying its baffling stylistic multi-direction, each song suggesting a different direction that this project could embark upon. Taking on board the spirits of Peter Gabriel, Elbow, Bon Iver and a healthy dose of traditional (and not-so-traditional) folk elements, the songs on that EP were elements that all fitted in with each other whilst managing to distance themselves musically. The title of this first full-lengther would suggest more of the same, Black Light suggesting a harmonious oxymoron.
So with that in mind, it’s actually rather nice (and somewhat rare) to be able to buy a record knowing that I’m almost certain to like it but without actually having much of a clue about what it is I’m actually going to be liking…
Sam’s choice of Diagrams for the name of his new solo/collective project is one that’s well-considered: for all the warmth provided by the vocals and their associated harmonies and arrangements, the music does have that “clean” feel of something that has been carefully created in a lab by people in (somewhat funky) white coats. So much so that I am instantly transported back to my old Combined Science lessons where each experiment had to follow strict rules and defined headers as dictated by the terrifyingly sarcastic Scottish brogue of my teacher of the time Mrs Baines, so I fear that I may have to conduct this review in similar scientifically-prescribed fashion.
Apparatus
Diagrams is the new (and hopefully ongoing) project of ex-folktronica trailblazers Tunng member Sam Genders, assisted here by experienced co-producer and former Moloko partner Mark Brydon, the multi-instrumental talents of Hannah Peel (whose own debut LP last year I absolutely loved), the impressively-CV’ed Danyal Dhondy providing strings and arrangements, and a host of other associated helper-outers. A mixture of talent from right across the board.
Method
Thankfully, the question of “which direction shall we take?” posed by the EP has been answered emphatically with “all of them, and sometimes all at the same time.” At the heart of it, Black Light is an electronic indie pop album. But it’s the myriad additions that give Diagrams a unique character – the most obvious being the many-layered vocals of Sam Genders himself, providing a calm and harmonious centre to whatever is draped around his songs, whether they are the string-covered and robotically rhythmic lead single Tall Buildings, the largely acoustic Night All Night, or the naked electric guitars and brass undertones (and more strings!) of Appetite.
A couple of tracks survive intact from the original EP, the aforementioned Night All Night and the twangy bass and African rhythms of Antelope, both of which fit in with the clean lines and perfect analogue curves of Black Light, although it’s fair to say that all the songs from there would find some geometrically-perfect home here – perhaps during the 15+ minute hole between album closer Peninsula and the “hidden” bonus track. I have to say that I’ve never been a particularly huge fan of “huge gap then bonus” material, especially in this digital age when those empty spaces take up space in a device’s memory that could be better employed by filling it with music, which ends this minor irritation. The electronic embellishments all have that antique quality that suggests complicated monstrosities with cables and sockets all over the place, and are used well to provide further levels of character and warmth with extra atmospheric bleeps and clangs judiciously present but hidden within the songs’ structures.
Observations
Black Light’s cover artwork describes the music within very well indeed. Constructs of natural images cut out, reflected and stuck on a page with care and precision. Throughout Black Light is a duty of care to elements both natural and artificial, creating sharp angles and soft ellipses exactly where they are needed to create something of genuine character and affection. Viewed either as a whole or track by track, there’s little to fault the quality of songwriting, choice of collaborators or deftness of arrangement. First viewing might suggest that this whole project has been grown in a petri dish somewhere in a secret lab on the moors somewhere, but it’s been done by people who know exactly what they want to get out of their labours and the result is a very friendly concoction indeed. Which leads me happily to the
Conclusion
An album that sounds that it’s aiming for many targets simultaneously, and hits them all. Avoiding traps of being overly folksy, electronic or hip, it’s something that can either sit quite happily on its own, or flirt coyly with any label people care to try to attach to it. Like labelmates Erland and the Carnival, Black Light is something that shows its roots happily but is equally cheerful to stand as far away from them as possible. For a record of so many contradictions, it’s an incredibly harmonious one.
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