Memory Tapes; Weird Tapes; The Banker from Deal Or No Deal; Memory Cassette: these are just some of the pseudonyms under which Dayve Hawk trades. After the demise of his band, one-time Interpol supports Hail Social, he turned to churning out blog-approved remixes for Yeah Yeah Yeahs (amongst others), finally striking out on his own under his glut of analog-friendly monikers. The eight-song Seek Magic is his first solo full-length under any name, and is loaded with sonic detail, from the chirping crickets and dog barks that lull the album into gear, to the extremely clever sneaker-squeaks-and-basketball-bounces interlude on ‘Green Knight’’s low-key funk.
It’s as if James Murphy decided to turn his modern dance classics over to the agoraphobic hands of Atlas Sound, coming up with an electro album which can’t quite help but sound as alien and out of place on headphones as it would pulsating out of some basement club’s PA system. ‘Bicycle’, the album’s first single, is a retro-minded collision of propulsive beats, layer upon processed layer of Hawk’s hauntingly soft vocals – like The Knife producing Neil Young – and a closing guitar solo, lifted straight from the grooves of New Order’s Technique, which cranks an already celestial song into some kind of dark-hearted disco supernova. It’s a dancefloor-friendly trick that ‘Stop Talking’ builds on in earnest – a bubbling, brooding verse, giving way to an ecstatic barrage of a chorus, decorated with lazerbeam synths and twisted ululations, not unlike Talking Heads at their prime.
Hawk has already talked up Seek Magic’s follow-up as “a psychedelic girl group record”, and the track which seems to come closest to that sound is “Plain Material”; the track staggers into life with a dense fug of hazy guitars and a swinging sixties melody, before getting slowly overtaken by an explosive round of rapid-fire drum machines and some euphoric call and response backing vocals. It’s an uplifting highlight to an intelligent, fascinating record, clearly made by someone who, quite simply, fucking loves music and knows exactly what a classic album sounds like. He’s not quite got round to making one himself just yet, but at least the enchanting Seek Magic lives up to its title; it’s a promising debut, in which Hawk is rooting around his house for records and instruments, trying to figure out what Works. By the sounds of things, he’s not got long to go before he finds out.
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Love love LOVE this album. It's splendid. For those of you who think the Bad Lieutenant is New Order at their worst, then try this – it's as close as you're going to get :-)
love that artwork. might try and give this is a listen sometime soon!
got this in the mail friday, it's really great.
got this in the mail friday, it's really great.
good