Rome - Hate Us And See If We Mind (c) 2013 Trisol
Artist....: Rome
Album.....: Hate Us And See If We Mind
Type......: Normal release
Source....: CDEP
Tracks....: 4
Genre.....: Darkwave
Label.....: Trisol
Catalogue#: TRI 470 CD
Encoder...: FLAC 1.3.1
Quality...: 825 kbps / 441kHz / 2 channels
URL.......: rome.lu
Tracklist:
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1 The Colony (Lowveld) 20:40
2 The Colony (Highveld) 18:33
3 Hate Us And See If We Mind (Single Version) 3:59
4 The Fever Tree (Single Version) 3:22
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46:34
Total:261.50MB / 46:34
Release Notes:
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Please do not give this CD free for downloading on the www.
Support the artist and buy the CD you like.
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When we last chewed over a release from Jerome Reuter, we were left rather
bewildered and uncertain as to the tack Rome might next adopt. With its stark
and bitterly personal tone, Hell Money offered few clues as to where the
brightest light to emerge from the neo-folk spectrum in the past decade would
guide his songwriting chops. Neatly split into two aesthetics which couldnÆt be
further apart, Hate Us And See If We Mind offers no clarification regarding the
future, even as it reminds me of why my ears prick up whenever thereÆs word of
new Rome material.
The binary nature of Hate Usæ sound is apparent as soon as its titles are
checked or its tracks are loaded onto a media player. Beginning with two
lengthy, fractured noise compositions each hovering at twenty minutes and titled
as variations on ôColonyö, it abruptly switches gears to a pair of more
traditional (and brief) songs. The distinctions between the two ôColonyö tracks
are difficult to suss out. The first starts with crackling noise, the second
with subdued, mournful vocal and melodic samples, but each switch from one mode
to the other after a couple of minutes, wiping away initial thematic impressions
or differences as the two pieces begin to overflow and flit between grinding
industrial rumbles and echoing, detuned melodies. WeÆve heard fragments of each
of these types of sounds on ReuterÆs earlier work, but never in such a detached,
abstract way, roaming where they might and cycling back and forth with each
other.
The brisk guitar strumming and simple drum beat of ôHate Us And See If We Mindö
clears whatever head-trip forty minutes of noise loops might have sent the
listener on, and reminds them that yes, this is still a Rome EP. Crisp and cold
but later allowing lighter piano melodies to shine through, ôHate Usö
immediately reminded me of Masse Mensch Materialæs ôDas Feuerordalö. ôThe Fever
Treeö is more vulnerable, and shows how adept Reuter has grown at presenting
gorgeous folk songs, full stop, free of any ôneoö or ômartialö prefixes. Hell
Moneyæs more desperate mood might have masked it, but his vocal control is
steadily improving, now allowing for a more textured and present timbre even
(perhaps especially) when singing in hushed tones.
Serving up two grinding pieces of purely experimental noise before two quick new
classics, right down the pipe, Hate Us brings us no closer to having an easily
communicable term or bracket for the current period of RomeÆs output than we
were when we slung Hell Money on the stereo. And heck, given the title of this
EP, maybe thatÆs the point: JeromeÆs just letting the chips fall where they may.
That cockiness isnÆt unappealing: IÆm envisioning a neo-folk remake of ôHate Me
Nowö, Jerome flossing a platinum acoustic guitar and calling out haters from the
Tesco message boards. Both ôa welcome return to formö and ôa daring
deconstruction of boundariesö, Hate Us And See If We Mind almost dares the
record reviewer to pull out the oldest cliches if only for the sole purpose of
hearing them eaten alive by their counter-theses.
Buy it.