Melbourne outfit Khancoban have been dishing out beautiful coasting minimalist alt-folk for nearly a decade, and it ain’t any less beautiful right now. The brainchild of husband/wife team Andre and Jemima Hooke (guitar and vocals/drums respectively), the band have delivered a gorgeously crafted album in Arches Over the Sun, which plays well with the current cold and rain, in that the sun shines through just enough to keep a smile and a faraway glance on your face.
Their second full-length album, Arches works to the outfit’s strengths: poise, patience, sweetly delivered and sincere prose, much like previous releases. Khancoban’s knack for stark composition, complemented by the breathy earnest vocals of Andre Hook, lends the whole affair a very memorable, whispery fragility.
Laidback, wistful numbers like Do Not Trust The Horse drift like a small boat in a weak current on a cold but sunny day, while quicker numbers like the sublime This Isn’t Madness work much like a slow pedal up a slight incline: comfy, balanced propulsion, essentially. But it’s still a cold, sunny day, so you’d probably only get the same effect as half a glass of wine. Nice and warm.
Best Track: This Isn’t Madness
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: softer moments from WILL OLDHAM, ART OF FIGHTING or even YO LA TENGO
In A Word: Dreamily Stark – Drark. Or, Scrumptiosly Tender – Scrunder?
MATT PANAG
