Santa Sprees - Keep Still

  by Andrew Carver

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Review

Santa Sprees are Anthony Dolphin and Katherine Marshall. Their latest effort,'Keep Still' is an album of lo-fi, keyboard driven pop music, accented by an armoury of the cheapest instruments money can buy (kazoo, anyone?). Currently residing in Japan Dolphin and Marshall are aided by some local friends, Makiko Nakao, Hiromi Shimonuma and Toshio Dazai. Santa Sprees apparently started off with a simple cheap keyboard, then added instruments as they went on. Fortunately, Santa Sprees doesn't rely on the grab bag quality of their gear. They get a lot of mileage out of their instruments (including "percussive lemons," according to their record company bio), and keep things varied: 'Keep Still' gets off to a promising start with 'Kitten Come Home', a minute of wobbly keyboards and strings. 'Alcoholic Gunslingers are Cool' is complemented by what sounds like video game shooting noises — and it works. The riff that starts off 'Petrified' could come out of a GBV album, while 'Old Sage' starts off with with a loping bass line and ends with harmonica. 'Customized Luv' sounds like something Bill Callahan of Smog might have composed. (I like the lyrical nod to the New York Dolls — "You'd best believe I'm in love, L-U-V" — at the end). Further afield there's the almost a cappella (barring some minimal percussion) 'Ra is Rising'. Unfortunately, that brings us to the one stumbling block to total enjoyment of this album: the vocals. The backing harmonies are pleasant enough, but Anthony Dolphin's voice ranges from the bearable to the grating. Since many of the songs seem to focus on the strains and pains of adolescence (for example 'Late Teens in the Clinic', the album's most energetic track, is about acne) Dolphin might at least deserve credit for adding a bit of verisimilitude by sounding like a tortured adolescent himself. In fact, after a listen or two, it's hard to imagine the music accompanying another voice. But when it first pops up in the second track, 'Wasted On You', it's like an unwelcome party crasher. Things do look up from there until the last track,' Free Inside (Worldes Bis Ne Last)', where once again it takes a turn for the worse. Still, the quality of the music and the lyrics overwhelms the vocal shortcomings on most of the tracks. Overall, this is a charming, intelligent album that hides its sadness under a playful exterior. Fans of the Music Tapes' 'First Imaginary Symphony for Nomad', for one, will certainly want to take a listen.

Track Listing:-

1 Kitten Come Home
2 Wasted On You
3 Alchoholic Gunslingers Are Cool
4 Petrified
5 Old Sage
6 Customised
7 Our Charity (pt 1)
8 Late Teens In The Clinic
9 Ra Is Rising
10 Making A Row Man
11 Back There
12 Roll Out The Beds
13 Our Charity (pt 2)
14 Pockets Of Snow
15 Start Again
16 Someone Watches Over Me
17 Umarekawaru
18 Make Up Dust
19 Fireworks For Guido
20 240 Volts Of Home Fire
21 Our Charity (pt 3)
22 My Past Collapses Behind Me
23 If You're In Town (Look Me Up)
24 Free Inside (Worldes Bis Ne Last)