Epic45 - Slides

  by Jonjo McNeill

published: 5 / 4 / 2007

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Ben Holton and Rob Glover have made four albums as Epic45, 'Slides' being their fourth. A reissue of a 2004 CD-R album, it pulls together a beautiful and tender collection of electro-tinged acoustic post-pop, sounding all-at-once-but-not-really-at-all like Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian and at points even Blur. 'Inland Lakes' melds 80's synths with unusual percussive patterns to create an incredibly atmospheric introduction to a record. 'Sliding On Yr Knees' is a soothing fusion of synthetic drums and electric pianos, sounding more like Mogwai than anything here and '(Re)Sculpted By Nature' takes the atmospherics even further with a - quite frankly genius - electric guitar arpeggio forcing emotions as well as any vocal could. The synth string section adds further atmosphere, making the rest of the album meld into a soundscape in small pieces. 'History Vs Future' is a minimalistic blend of uber-bleak guitars and tripped out drums absolutely drenched in reverb. The album does lose its way slightly with 'Between Woodland' and 'An Afternoon Ahead', which seem like sketches for ideas rather than something which has been allowed to grow and develop fully. 'The Blue Of The Sky' gets the album back on track, however, with the simplistic musical textures of delayed drums and hidden layers. What's refreshing about this record is that it seems to have been crafted entirely inside a bubble. You could, if you really look, allocate influences to different areas of the record, but you'd probably be wrong. Epic45 sound like they only listen to what goes on in their heads. An album with absolutely no interest in fashion and style, how refreshing to hear something that you haven't already heard eighteen times already today. Every track could only be part of the one piece> Such is the vision of this record. I would imagine it hard to give a standout track or recommend a future single, 'Slides' truly is one of those records where the whole thing only works in context of the whole thing. A very good record, and now succeeded by their third album (don't ask), 'Slides' is definitely worth investigating. Epic45 won't be tearing up dancefloors and they won't sell many magazines, but these two quiet fellas are creating something exceptionally beautiful and undoubtedly unique.

Track Listing:-

1 Inland Lakes
2 Slidin' on Your Knees
3 Looking Down a Hill
4 (Re) Sculpted by Winter
5 History vs the Future
6 Between Woodland
7 An Afternoon Ahead
8 The Blue of the Sky
9 Leaving
10 For Virginia Astley
11 Daylight Photography
12 Roads and Paths
13 Nearly Home

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