Ass Ass

February 28, 2008

Losing Today

www.losingtoday.com

Ass / Blood Music 'Split' (Static Caravan). A Scandinavian head to head of sorts that sees Static regulars Blood Music paired with Ass and each devoting two tracks apiece on this limited red / blue splatter wax 7".

As said Blood Music should need no introductions to the Static faithful - loosely mentioned in these musings a few years back (missive 90 to be precise) - Karl Jonas Winqvist (for it is he who is Blood Music) and friends caused a fair amount of chattering among the whispering classes of the music underground networks following his debut full length 'sing a song fighter'.

Winqvist's unique style and idiosyncratic approach to melodic development is perfectly exemplified on the gloriously up beat and radiating 'don quite'. All at once crooked and trippy, there's a kind of cinematic sheen that lends itself throughout this little nugget that suggests attention has been paid to Morricone's unusual playfulness as found on the individual character scores within the monumental 'once upon a time in the west' especially the clumpishly inebriated scene stealing aspects applied to Robards' Cheyenne.

Dsh this with a delicious mexicana dialect add in some withering tomfooling brass arrangements and a skanking underpin and you have something that to these ears sounds like the work of a session collaboration between the much missed L'Augmentation and Gulliver.

Elsewhere you'll find the torturously brief but dusty 'problematique' stumbling and sighing its way into your affections sounding not unlike a happy pill popping Will Oldham overdosing on breezy banjo pirouettes after a night in blissing out on Ivor Cutler records.

We know Geoff Static has been raving about Ass for a while now since sending over a copy of his self titled debut full length via the Headspin imprint a few weeks back which we thoroughly recommend a truly captivating debut awaiting appreciation and the term classic to be deservedly bestowed upon it - think Archer Prewitt meets Oddfellows Casino and then some more - Static are planning a limited vinyl release of said album while next month should see Ass's second full length 'my get up and go just got up and went' hit the racks next month.

For now though something of a taster via 'it's in the galley' and 'turn the boat, turn the boat'. Admittedly not as flowing as the seven cuts found gracing the aforementioned self titled full length this brace of beauties adopt a reflective nautical air to them that's so slender and unassuming you feel obliged to draw up close in almost reverent fascination.

'it's in the gallery' - in our humbled opinion the best of the twin set is touchingly tender - as it softly bobs and weaves assuming a spectral demeanour, in some respects not a million miles in terms of sound effectiveness as those early Inch Time releases with their pastel hued picturesque pastoral portraits, the detail is in the texture as it slowly gathers depth and wraps you rewardingly, the delicate unwinding acoustics caressed by pining shanty spectres and dinky braids of nursery room twinkle bells. Scrumptious. Equally inspired and introspective is the piano and string led 'turn the boat, turn the boat' - a melancholic and noire-ish gem that takes its cue from those quieter moments before the climatic storm gatherings as found on those early and crucial godspeed releases - in short you need this - limited to just 500 copies.