Ectogram - Tall Things Falling

  by Gary Wollen

published: 28 / 3 / 2002

---

Review

Never judge a book by it's cover or in this case a CD by it's artwork. This CD arrived along with a whole host of well packaged post rock digipaks and stupidly I left it until last.Seriously the cover is awful almost as if your local Gong appreciation society was let loose on a photo shop.In fact only The Fall's recent release ('Are You Are Missing Winner') tops this sleeve for its pure "Yuck" factor. The music contained within however is a different matter entirely. Within the first couple of minutes it became clear that 'Tall Things Falling' is the best British release I have heard in years! The opener 'Sycamore Rash' is compelling. With female vocals that somehow bring Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins to mind, the atmosphere of the majority of tracks is a kind of friendly mystery. Impenetrable lyrics for the most part but simultaneously communicating "something". A feeling. Certainly psychedelic but for the most part devoid of cliches, eclectic, diverse yet unified and the sound of a band finding themselves.Perhaps not quite the finished article but 100% genuine and capable of greatness. I mentioned the Cocteau Twins earlier but make no mistake Ectogram sound nothing like them. It's how I imagined Jefferson Airplane's ''Surrealistic Pillow' would sound. The only release I can compare this too is Kukl's 'Holidays in Europe' and look what happened too their singer. Look it up if you don't know!! Ectogram deserve too be heard. A innovative, original release. No "beats"! No messing about. Simply a band worth investigating.

Track Listing:-

1 Sycamore Rash
2 To Dream Of Acorns
3 Kindling
4 The Horse Behind The Flower
5 Mismatter and Match
6 My Owl
7 Apparatus On My Mind
8 Glove Soup
9 Prime Plant Locks
10 Photos Of Toast
11 Black Lime Trees
12 Meddling Hour
13 Spring Without Green