Porcelain Raft: Strange Weekend - Album Review

Porcelain Raft
Strange Weekend
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

London by way of Rome singer/songwriter/musician Mauro Remiddi has trafficked in many musical areas; composing music for films, providing backing music for the tap dance show 'Vaudeville 2000', been in two bands (Three Blind Mice and Sunny Day Sets Fire), and now releases his debut album as Porcelain Raft, Strange Weekend. Based on some singles I had heard, and the general buzz I was getting about this release, I was really expecting a more dark take on chillwave or Balearic pop. My first few listens of Strange Weekend sort of struck an odd chord with me. There was a slightly disjointed flow to the record that kept me at arms length for the longest time, and it wasn't until after many listens where the charm of the record took hold. While the biggest touchstones are likely chillwave bands like Washed Out and Toro Y Moi, Porcelain Raft doesn't settle into any one groove throughout the album. In fact, the more closer touchstone would be dream pop bands like Beach House, who create patchworks of gauzy analog synths and hazy guitars. Remiddi's startlingly androgynous voice is another key point to the album, it being somewhat impossible at times to tell whether the voice is male or female, to the point, at first, I thought there were two singers.

The best tracks on the album mine the dream pop aspect, floating on sparkling synths, fuzzy guitars, languid vocals, and primitive sounding drum programming. "Drifting In And Out" sets the scene beautifully in a rush of airy keyboards and Remeddi's strange, lilting voice.



"Put Me To Sleep," rises from a fog of drifting synths and guitars, getting more and more insistent, building into a dense tower of sound. Guitars getting twisted and turned, the drums reaching a martial furor.



"Unless You Speak From Your Heart" could almost be a lost track from Beach House, with its chorus of analog synths and calliope-like rhythm. The song is such a quirky, inventive pop song, its charms are difficult to resist.



The remainder of the album is a mix of half-acoustic numbers like "Shapeless & Gone," "Picture," and "The Way In" that tend to bring the flow of the record to a halt. Not that they are not lovely songs and show a softer side to his work, they lacked the adventurousness and quirkiness of the more upbeat tracks.



Working better are tracks such as "Backwords" which use the acoustic backing as a base, but transcends the limitations into something starkly beautiful and haunting. The subtle electronic haze creates just the right hints of melancholy, bursting forth like a flash of light for the chorus.



"The End of Silence" brings to mind the nostalgic reveries of Youth Lagoon, vocals buried deep in the mix over a heavy mist of gentle synths and fuzzed guitars.



Strange Weekend is a very promising debut that stuck a chord with me, especially when Remuddi allowed his creativity to really shine through, balancing his more eclectic side with the pop side. That tension creates some wonderful tracks on here. But when the balance is off, you get either too quirky, or practically unmemorable, and thus the flow suffers. Given a little more time and patience, he is bound to release a classic album soon.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race