Roberts and Lord - Eponymous

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 13 / 11 / 2011

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Merging lo-fi aesthetics with Beach Boys harmony vocals may appear to be a non-starter, yet there is a particular way to go about mono recording and recording harmony vocals and Roberts and Lord manage this, as if by the hand of God, John Lennon or Brian Wilson. Roberts and Lord even manage a little Bo Diddley. Never mind how these two came to find common ground. Since Roberts and Lord have recorded this album, we can only rejoice in their wandering ways. They are busily eloquent like Sparks on 'Wild Berries' and have their tongue firmly planted in cheek here. The tracks that follow also are dripped in ironic sarcasm and cynicism. They are supported by a driving backbeat on 'Oblique'. You might even feel like waltzing through the streets of Vienn, cursing your luck, as the words in 'Oblique' go. Those first moments of euphoria are hard to come down from. 'Knots' attempts at first to ground the listener, but again we have another magnificent little tune in due course. 'Purple Doves' sounds as if the Durutti Column started learning guitar licks from West African music. Yet throughout 'Eponymous', big breezy electronic effects come to their aid. New Age-ish touches define 'Interior Demon' as a nu-funk track. Roberts and Lord have by this stage gone 'trance'. In their closing track 'The Same Love' they sum up what Animal Collective are trying to market these days. This is a pleasantly deranged debut album. It is too early days to tell perhaps yet whether it is one to define the year 2011.

Track Listing:-

1 Mosquito
2 Wild Berries
3 Bottom of the Bottle
4 Windmill
5 Oblique
6 Knots
7 Menuhin
8 Purple Doves
9 We Rise, We Fall
10 Interior Demon
11 Spem
12 The Same Love

Band Links:-

https://robertsandlord.bandcamp.com/album/covers

Label Links:-

http://asthmatickitty.com/
https://www.facebook.com/asthmatickitty
https://twitter.com/asthmatickitty
https://www.youtube.com/user/asthmatickitty

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