imp - Moon Coastal Maine

Science Fiction Rock and Roll from the depths of West Yorkshire via the Altered States of Philophobia, imp's (always lower case) Moon Coastal Maine is a really bold statement for a debut album with its minute-or-so long ambient pieces scattered throughout. Maybe imp have made their second difficult album and released it first? There is, after all, a bunch of music already recorded that hasn't made it onto Moon Coastal Maine (when first mooted, the album was going to be a 70 minute behemoth). What we have here is a selection of songs that could fit onto two sides of an LP, as if the band doesn't want to outstay its welcome.

There are passages, largely instrumental, that could well be deemed as incidental music, but the album as a whole just wouldn't hang together properly if they were mere interludes. These pieces are integral to the flow of Moon Coastal Maine. It's almost as if the album is sequenced to allow your mind to recover from the frazzling that occurs when immersed in tracks such as 'Better Living Through Chemistry' or 'Wild China': the soothing balm of woozy synthesisers and treated voices before you're plunged back into the uneasy rhythms of what the men of imp may refer to as their 'regular rock' mode. Thing is, there is nothing regular about how these songs unfurl. The drums and bass are akin to the aural equivalent of an Escher drawing.

If you have seen imp play live, you'll know that it's not a ponderous Math Rock thing. Neither is it Progressive, but there is a smidgen of both, but it's mostly in the genes and not in the attitude in which it's presented. imp are not po-faced plodders. Drummer Aiden is a good barometer of what the live imp experience is. Occasionally levitating from the drumstool as the music peaks, a beatific smile beneath the beard. Both on record and in the flesh, the band are capable of moments of mind-bending wonder. Howdle's guitar sometimes sounds more like a keyboard than keys man Riggs's Farfisa-like sound. There's a guitar motif somewhere in this melee ('Call of the Wild') that echoes Robert Fripp's input on Bowie's Scary Monsters album. In fact, how Howdle manages to sound like Fripp and Adrian Belew within the same song is something to be admired (see 'Zona de Bahnos' and 'Loyola'). In other sections, there are huge Stylophone-like portamento sounds as Howdle's bandmates' music rises and falls. 'Salad Days' puts me in mind of 'Unconsciously Screaming' era Flaming Lips; there is a Magazine-like bass sound on 'Die!' and 'Airwaves' is the four to the floor thrash that Mercury Rev couldn't quite manage to achieve.

Somehow, all of the above influences - real or percived, who knows? - go into the imp mix and come out the other side sounding super-fresh. Moon Coastal Maine doesn't outstay its welcome. Now how about the Deluxe Edition with all the unreleased music?

Piskie Sits

Piskie Sits: Creature Feature

Piskie Sits recently past their 10 years anniversary ya know? Granted, there have been myriad line-up changes since 2003, but the essential sound of the band is a reassuring constant. If you're familiar with their scant back catalogue of releases, you'll be glad to hear that the ridiculously catchy melodies are intact on Creature Feature, along with some real revelations: dare I say it, a sonic leap and bound forward, leaving debut long player The Secret Sickliness sounding like a warm-up for the main event. There's no difficult second album syndrome here, as Philophobia Records releases Creature Feature just in time for Halloween 2013.

Right from the opening 'I Know and You'll Know', the signature Piskies sound is immediately apparent. Craig Hale's in love again and he wants everyone to know how he feels, as keys and guitar gently weave around each other. It's a deceptively soft opening couple of minutes or so, as the last minute comes crashing in on a wave of guitars and distorted drums. It's a grand opening statement, one that illustrates that the band that made The Secret Sickliness has finally surmounted its more obvious musical contemporaneous influences. Yeah, Hale still pleads and yelps a teeny bit like M*lkmus, and in parts the guitars thrum and clatter a tiny bit like P*vement, but the Piskies of 2013 is a more muscular beast. Witness 'Family Tree', 'Always the Crap Songs' and 'Young Dumb and Full of It' - lean, mean thrilling machines that really do rock a lot, thanks to a rhythm section that certainly sounds more dynamic than before. The bass and especially the drums have been captured really well on these songs.

Creature Feature doesn't outstay its welcome, with a running time of around 40 minutes from top to bottom. Some tracks are proper earworms, and they may just end up on your 'internal jukebox'. Remember the 'It's a Shame About Ray' and 'Come on Feel...' moments on those Lemonheads albums? Melodies would present themselves and be whisked away just as quickly, meaning that replay value was high. It's the case with a number of tracks on Creature Feature. On hit-in-waiting-or-I'll-eat-my-own-ears 'Feat. Pharrell Williams' there's a fantastic moment wherein all instruments except the drums drop out of the mix, leaving vocals and handclaps for just one magical bar of music. It's one of those moments where you're compelled to stop what you're doing and clap along (hands above your head, of course). 'This Good This Bad' is initially similar in tone to opener 'I Know and You'll Know', but there's a storm coming. After a lull half way through the song, and on the back of the most hummable guitar motif, the calm is shattered and the track hits new heights as Bonham-esque drums drive a storm of guitars and voices towards the climax. It's Arcade Fire with a Yorkshire accent, tha noz. 'Fin' mines a similar seam, the verses accompanied by little more than piano and drum machine, the choruses and outro powered along by some top notch guitar and the pugnacious rhythm section giving it loads.

And then there are the songs you may already be familiar with: 'Waiting For the Dance of Death' appeared on The Rhubarb Bomb's The City Consumes Us compilation from 2012, and radio hit 'Viktoria Plzen', a gravity-defying tale of discovery, missed opportunities and UEFA Champions League minnows, in which Hale informs us that "love is toast". By the album's end, Craig Hale might have fallen out of love, but true love DOES travel on a gravel road.

So seven years on from their debut, and Piskie Sits are in rude health. We can't call it a comeback - they've been here all the time in one form or another, and recording sporadically. But Hale and co. don't just release everything they commit to tape. This means that potential greats like 'No You're Not' and 'You're Fired' are played live maybe half a dozen times and discarded. Who knows how many songs have never made it beyond the walls of the rehearsal room?

In the meantime, Creature Feature (due for release on October 21st, 2013) will suffice. Just don't leave it so bloody long 'til next time, eh?