Gentle Friendly Ride Slow (Upset The Rhythm)
4/5
By: Steve Rose
Shambolic, unconventional and brilliant; Gentle Friendly are all of these things. Occupying a similar musical niche as Animal Collective, Black Dice, Fuck Buttons, Dan Deacon et al; this is possibly the weirdest, most creative and beautiful, British record that I have heard this year. Birmingham born, South London residents Daniel and David have to a degree abandoned their taped up keyboards, broken drums and more abrasive roots, in favour of a more sonically pleasing form of self expression. Essentially giddy pop melodies through a gentle cuteness of clanging cymbals and squawking feedback.
The majority of this, their debut full length (released on leading London independent label Upset The Rhythm) was painstakingly, meticulously and lovingly self-recorded in their New Cross warehouse. As a result of their apparent musical isolation, and Guided By Voices style work regime, Ride Slow is a well crafted collection of pretty dissonance and stylish indie pop. Despite the ease with which this could be vaguely referred to under the 'experimental' bracket , or the lo-fi label; neither of these things would do justice to the skronky pop songs that lie within the mesmerizing whispery yawp, and crystalline clarity of this debut full length.
This honest and unpretentious 'mid-fi' album is an example of the friendly, if peripheral relationship, avant-garde art has always had with mainstream pop/rock- stretching from The Beatles and The Velvet Underground, through to Sonic Youth and The Talking Heads. Two of the record's best tracks 'R.I.P Static' and 'Clean Breaker' are prime examples of this delicate juxtaposition of seemingly incongruent qualities that work together amazingly.
As a whole Ride Slow is a shy veil of sweetness to Gentle Friendly's sometimes bottom heavy, danceable melancholy. One of the best and most underrated British long player's to come out in the year two thousand and nine, with not a single member of the 'London fashion rock troupe' in sight. Super Rad.
Artists in this article: Gentle Friendly
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