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artist · homelife
release · fairweather friend
year · 1999
genre · lo-fi
label · master detective
catalogue · sleuth 002
website · www.madwaltz.com
date · 17-may-2004
quality · 219kbps/44,1khz
source · vinyl
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a1 fairweather friend 5:19
b1 bus brakes 3:11
b2 yes no yes no 3:15
playtime · 00h 11m 45s
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wow. a proper release for homelife! la di da ;) having previously
released two albums on their own label, madwaltz, homelife secure
the services of cohort justin robertson's label, master detective,
to release an ep of brand new material which'll hopefully spread
the word a little further afield. continuing the wildly eclectic
vein traced out on their recent full-length cho cho, fairweather
friend is, as you'd imagine, no compromise. the core of homelife,
paddy steer, tony burnside and simon king, have once again drawn
on a collective of manchester's most talented musicians to produce
their live/sampled sound, though this time the vocals are handled
principally by semay wu as opposed to faron brooks, lending the
three tracks a distinctive edge - the kind of gently unsettling
but enjoyable 'east meets west' fusion you feel when adrift in
eastern europe, or following the grand(ish) tradition of exotica
traced out by les baxter, martin denny, yma sumac etc. pursuing
this train of thought, perhaps 'madame butterfly' is as much an
influences as madchester (represented again by 808 state's graham
massey, though as his role is principally bass clarinet player,
this is more south pacific than pacific state), though
manchester's ability as a city to rapidly incorporate change and
absorb numerous wide-ranging influences may be subconsciously
responsible for bands like homelife, and their seemingly
instinctive ability to meld a coherent sound from radically
different personalities. perhaps this pseuds-corner, so-called
insight is inappropriate though, as this ep is too laid-back and
simply enjoyable at face value to react to clumsy analytical
prods, indeed it's homelife's most accessible, and most refined,
output so far. the drums are certainly beefed-up slightly,
achieving a lazy hip-hop shuffle on the title track and "bus
brakes", which also features wu's soaring vocals snaking around
massey's jazzy bass clarinet. they save the best till last though.
final track "yes ... no ... yes ... no" is like delicately inked
pinyin, scored out with rice-paper fragility; delightfully
drifting, swooping vocals embellishing a magic carpet of languid
exotica-derived strings, echoing yma sumac's voice of the xtabay
as much as anything. overall, another release of sheer class, and
respect is certainly (long over)due. there's still enough sunshine
left over here for this to be the perfect soundtrack to a higher
state of barbeque, and for those of you for whom summer is yet to
begin, do try to get hold of this release to adequately sound
design your seasons.
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