Green Child - Shimmering Basset

by Dave Goodwin

published: 26 / 11 / 2020

Label: Upset The Rhythm
Format: CD

Impressive electropop recorded on vintage synths on second album from the Green Child which promises much for the future

Review

Retro-futuristic in scope, the Green Child are a once separate but now joined at the same keyboard house recording project of Raven Mahon, furniture maker extraordinaire and former member of Grass Widow, and Mikey Young, recording engineer and band member of Total Control, Eddy Current and Suppression Ring. With the aid of original synthesizers and vintage drum machines they have released their latest offering, ‘Shimmering Basset’, by way of Upset the Rhythm. Raven moved from California to live with Mikey in Australia and the dormant Green Child was reborn into the basement studio of their beachy, house on stilts in the seaside town of Rye, around an hour south of Melbourne. Their self-titled debut of 2018 sounds a little sparse and simpler compared to this outing, not surprising when they had been permitted the time to grow and develop close at hand, and they were able to realize the whole record as a body of work, tying together themes and meeting challenges, so it no coincidence that songs collected on ‘Shimmering Basset’ are concerned with life after relocation and deal with distance and staying connected. The sounds themselves are analogue-ish and essentially 80’s-influenced with echoes of Ultravox, Visage and OMD and the use of live drums, courtesy of Shaun Gionis. The opener ‘Fashion Light’ is a slab of trad-electropop. with the next track ‘Low Desk: High Shelf’ continuing in the same vein with Raven’s vocals blending in. The album. however, kick starts for me when ‘Witness’ crashes into the fore featuring bristling electronic percussion from James Vinciguerra. It is followed by the groove- laden ‘Dreamcom’, which sports sequencing and spiraling guitar and upon which Raven’s vocals seem to morph into something a little darker. A different bassline and the introduction of saxophone adorn ‘The Installation’, a calmer affair before ‘Tony Bandana’ synthpsychobeats its way to ‘Health Farm’ and ‘Resurrection’, the former actually a cover version. The last track ‘Double Lines’ ghosts its way to the finale. All in all this is a good continuation for a band from whom we should see still better things. I preferred the busier stuff being an 80’s child, but I am looking forward to the next instalment from the Green Child.

Track Listing:-

1 Fashion Light
2 Low Desk : High Shelf
3 Dreamcom
4 Tony Bandana
5 Health Farm
6 Witness
7 Smart Clothes
8 The Installation
9 Resurrection
10 Double Lines