On the debut album from Dennis Santiago and Philippa O’Shea, Santiago ramps up the dub element of his band Absolute Boys but pulls back on the guitars. There are still guitars on here, though anything organic has been processed to the point of sounding synthetic, then reduced right down to provide a backdrop for O’Shea’s vocals.
O’Shea tends to starts with a simple refrain, but then allows room to let the vocal undulate around the anchoring ambience of the music. “Bring out the child in me,” she sings over a dubbed-out house beat on the hypnotic Child (Eurogrand); a collision of nostalgia and dystopia that will appeal to fans of Peaking Lights. On the title track, the pleading refrain of “Somebody help me,” is soulfully complemented by lethargic strums of guitar and the tapping and clicking of spliced beats. The repetition of the instrumentation only compounds the desperation of the vocal, but it’s a beautiful place to be trapped in.
Midway through, Sorry! drops deeper into ambient sounds, but the one track that really resonates is the echo-chamber closer, Possessed. The eight minutes of looped lushness make you wish for more songs of a similar running time, so you could get fully lost in their sonic soundscapes. Still, this enigmatic, magnetic debut is a tantalising entry point into the duo’s escapist wonderland.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
