Song, by Toad

King Creosote – They Flock Like Vulcans to See Old Jupiter Eyes on His Home Craters

Albums with preposterously long titles, hmm. Have we learned nothing from Fiona Apple, people? It’s a genuine surprise release, this, with KC’s recent album still warm on the shelves of the nation’s record shops and the squeals of the betrayed folkies still ringing in our ears.

He’s always been a prolific little minstrel, has Kenny, and I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that this record follows so hard on the heels of the previous one (it was probably half-written before that one even came out). In the sense that Bombshell came across as a release from the shackles of years of home-recorded low-fi releases, this one can’t help but give the impression of a similar reaction to the Big Pop Record that was Bombshell.

We have returned to the more low-key sadness that I am guessing most Creosotians love, so I would guess that this will be more popular with the KC orthodoxy than the last record was. The fact that the songs themselves are bloody brilliant should help too. That familiar meandering introspection has returned, but in this case the eccentric touches tend to be provided by the sounds of early-90s dance music that is being played a little bit too loud on a cheap stereo in the basement of the house next door. It’s a bizarre sound, and oddly enough it works superbly with Kenny’s songs and, inparticular, his rather distinctive voice.

It’s perhaps less focussed an album I suppose, which is why it comes across as something of a reaction, or maybe an antidote, or maybe just a leftovers album when compared to Bombshell. The peculiar way that the Fence Collective seem to have of finding an idea and being able to pursue it, even if it leads nowhere in a way that makes for lovely music, is very much the heart and soul of this record. KC seems to just pick it up, play with it, tease out the good bits and then that’s that. If that results in a minute and a half of fuzz with a peculiar melody behind it then fine, if it’s a three-minute, verse-bridge-chorus pop song then fine too, but nothing is forced to be something that it isn’t.

I can’t recommend this album highly enough, as you can probably tell, but you won’t be able to buy it for a bit. From September it will be on sale in the Fence Records Shop on their website, but for now the only way to get your grubby little hands on one is to go along to a show and buy one there. It’s a funny approach in some ways, but I like it because you should be going to the shows – it’s just a nice, non-sulky way of giving something to the people who really support the band. Frustrating for those of you that live in Melbourne, Miami or Malmo I accept, but fear not. September just isn’t that far away.

King Creosote – Ear Against the Wireless
King Creosote – A Might Din of ‘What If’s

Website (Fence Records) | More mp3s | Buy… erm, oh no, you can’t – go to a show instead, then