Scout Niblett - 'I Conjure Series' (Too Pure)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
With some things, the word 'minimal' is just a little bit too big. Such is the case with 'I Conjure Series', a mini-album in the smallest sense of the word. Here's the scene - one woman with an achingly sweet voice, an album recorded entirely live consisting of seven tracks, topped off by a running-time barely braking eleven minutes. There are instruments, but not many. Drums feature most prominently, but these are drums dear Scout has only just learned how to play. When there's a guitar, it's used harmoniously, but only ever plays around three notes. Honestly, there are some people who hate prog-rock this much.
Well, more power to them. Imagine Bjork in full, cute pixie mode behind a drum kit she's still learning on, or Meg White telling Jack to take a hike and hiring a studio for an afternoon and you're some way there. 'Let's go, let's go!' shouts Ms Niblett urgently to start off this charming record with all one minute and twenty seconds of 'Gymnastic (Fell Over)', and you're away. It won't take you long and there isn't too much in the way of scenery, but the trip proves that when something as touching and playful as this can be made with so little in the way of instrumentation, the tradition of over-production really has had its day.
'Rimsky to the Rescue' is the closest it comes to convention. An instantly captivating vocal melody skips over some simple acoustic guitar plucking and a cymbal shimmering quietly in the background. If you've never wanted to give a song a hug before, you'll want to wrap your arms around this one, if only because it's some wonderfully twee light relief in between what can at times sound like your kid sister practicing a one woman acoustic riot grrrl project in her upstairs bedroom.
Her next album, which will be her second full-length after her well-received debut LP 'Sweet Heart Fever', will feature the genius production skills of famously stripped-back producer Steve Albini. What that will sound like, we can only wonder; how exactly do you add rawness to the sounds of one woman and a drum kit - surely if her material becomes any rawer it'll start to bleed?
And are we just having a joke made at our expense by enjoying this so much? Or is it really as serious as Scout Niblett claims? Who knows, but let's just stay happy in our ignorance to the answer to that one. The sheer fact that a record like this can exist whilst doing so damn little means it deserves nothing but our praise. Follow them drums.
Artists in this article: Scout Niblett
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