ARTiST: Half Cousin
TiTLE: Iodine
LABEL: Gr÷nland
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 34:17 min
SiZE: 39,5 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Mar-15-2007
RELEASE DATE: Apr-16-2007
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. Big Chief (The B&B Frequenter) 03:58
02. Jim's Crash Memory 03:09
03. Charity 04:02
04. The Absentee 02:27
05. Abide 03:22
06. Police Torch 04:12
07. Home Help 02:14
08. Rat Pack Dad 03:57
09. The Family Thumb 03:03
10. Your Name 03:53
Release Notes:
"Half Cousin are a metaphysical revolution playing
junked-up pastoral music for the psychiatric set.
Which is a good thing - trust us." // NME
"Half Cousin have somehow happened upon their own
infectiously mismatched strain of pop music." //
Mojo
"This eclectic blend makes for a joyous, fun-filled
ride and it's organic beauty acts as an ideal
brochure for the Orkney Islands tourist board." //
Time Out
Orkney, off the north-eastern tip of Scotland, had
never been known for it's distorted junkyard pop.
Not until the debut album by Half Cousin,"The
Function Room", appeared in 2004, inspired by the
islands' weather-beaten landscapes and off-beat
characters.
Sought after singles "Half Turn/Mrs
Pilling","Country Cassette" and "The Diary Fire EP"
paved the way for acclaimed shows, supporting the
likes of Hot Chip and The Earlies (with members of
The Hours, The Noisettes and ex-Mescaleros all
lending a hand in the live band.) Collaborations,
also, with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and contributions
to the Blank Tape Spillage Fete, all cemented Half
Cousin's reputation as something fresh and exciting.
Main songwriter Kevin Cormack, now living in London,
has teamed up once again with old Orcadian school
friend Jimmy Hogarth to record "Iodine"- the follow
up to "The Function Room".
As before, junk percussion, cheap electronics and
family heirlooms prevail - but the results are far
more beguiling, detailed and, at times, euphoric.
The subject matter of small town Orcadian characters
is also more elaborate: Irish Country groupies, Rat
Pack Dads, crofters on the run from the police and
teenage pyromaniacs inhabit songs about chip shop
photography, Alzheimer's, social club show business,
absentees and mistaken identities.
Cormack's twisting melodies and songwriting savvy
lead the way, giving momentum and focus to the
driving ragbag collection of customized sounds.
Hints of Captain Beefheart, Arab Strap, Einsturzende
Neubauten, Bjork and even early House music emerge,
but always as part of something uniquely it's own.
Such individuality that bizarrely caught the ear of
Elton John who when guest editor of Time Out
magazine praised ôThe Diary Fireö single in saying
"ItÆs like the music from a Hammer Horror film and
then mutates into this weird, soft electronic thing.
It's really strange. They're from Orkney - something
is clearly going on out there."
Something clearly is and you can see exactly what
for yourselves, when the band head out to support
like minded souls The Earlies in March throughout
Europe and the UK.
It all still adheres to his original aim of creating
"short, melodic music from junk." And so the story
continues...