ARTiST: How To Cure Dyslexia
TiTLE: The Tempo Of Bicycles And Boats
LABEL: Dyslexia Music
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 36:16 min
SiZE: 46,2 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Jun-29-2007
RELEASE DATE: 000-00-2007
WEBSiTE: www.myspace.com/howtocuredyslexia
Track List:
01. Close Your Eyes 02:59
02. Little Else 02:31
03. Humour 03:52
04. Afternoon 05:43
05. Computer 02:28
06. Allow 03:10
07. All At Sea 01:19
08. Summers Over 03:55
09. Around The Houses 04:09
10. My Setting Sun 06:10
Release Notes:
Initially things don't look promising for the
winsomely titled How To Cure Dyslexia. Their debut
album The Tempo of Bicycles and Boats was recorded
in an art gallery open to the general public who
could - hey - witness the birth of how an album is
brought into existence. So far, so pretentious.
Which would normally bring to mind expectations of
tedious drones, prissy embellishments or
navel-gazing sketches of willfully unlistenable
drivel. Thankfully expectations can bugger off.
So what do you get from opening up the process of
making an album in an art gallery? Well, not that
you'd notice 'the public' booing, hissing or
cheering from the sidelines - they are there in
barely audible 'triangle contributions' - you get
one winsome album of woozy 'non-folk' that calls to
mind The Lilac Time,Belle and Sebastian, Syd Barrett
or a whole host of wordy, wry and acoustic
commentators that live down in the grubby
indecisions of the heart and not in some cobwebbed
ivory tower. Damn those clever-clogs!
Close Your Eyes with its funereal drum, melodica,
twinkly descending chord keyboards and sweet
girl-boy harmonies could be some euro-pop treasure
from the '60s that Saint Etienne would champion. It
is a taster of the songwriting contained within,
where principle Dyslexic, David Miller peppers his
pretty off-the-wall melodies with stepping-stone
vocals full of loathing.
Little Else, with its distinctly-English
intonations, is both charmingly na∩ve and endearing
and serves as the albums key song. Full of gentle
parklife observations of "the gay man walks his
little dog, the old folk like to chat about their
illnesses" are countered by the bittersweet regret
of "not asking you to marry me".
Humour's Morrissey-wannabe lyrics as done by early
Mockney Bowie come over as bittersweet but clever,
like a less smug Divine Comedy as it documents the
silent gulf opening between a couple of differing
tastes, but done in such adoring tones.
Its clip-clopping rhythms of the teacup whimsy
psychedelia echo a Syd Barrett hooked on sweet tea
and crosswords rather than acid-fried dribblings. It
also seems hooked on getting caught looking at muck
on the computer as Computer guiltily holds it hands
up in a skittish confessional of embarrassment.
The albums two instrumentals Afternoon and Around
The Houses bear distinct signs of inbreeding with
the former bearing a more indie scowl in its
shimmers along on a sparse fagged-out underbelly,
while the latter could be its jazzier twin.
The nature of relationships is the album's key theme
with the only spoilers being All At Sea which plods
along somewhat clumsily about a daydreaming
relationship and Summer's Over stumbles the speed of
things with a melody that whines and tales of
seasonal relationships.
My Setting Sun closes things off with a cheeky
reprise that calls to mind Dream A Little Dream of
Me with its nostalgic plucked ukulele coming over as
a peace sign from all the domestic warfare that took
place before. It is, as Miller croons full of the
feeling of "a gentle peace surrounds me" before
lurching into a more spirited reprise of handclaps
and slapdash.
A charming curio from a novel approach. But for that
name? Put me down for a t-shirt and an invite to the
next album session!