Album Review - Simian Mobile Disco: Unpatterns

Simian Mobile Disco
Unpatterns
Rating: Grrrr

Producers/remixers James Ford and James Shaw, a.k.a. Simian Mobile Disco, have not exactly followed any direct path in their musical career. Amid the hype of Justice and other electro-house producers, Simian Mobile Disco released their debut Attack Sustain Decay Release, which took a more acid house/techno approach than their contemporaries, relying on older, analog equipment to give their sound some warmth. Follow up Temporary Pleasures was a bit of a misfire, attempting to make a more radio-friendly pop album, using a variety of guest singers, which just made their sound muddled and indistinct. 2010's Delicacies was a return to form, if you will, though again, they switched up sounds, putting out a series of lengthy tech-house bangers. While it was more of niche genre they infiltrated, it was one they did with style. New album Unpatterns broadens the scope a bit, moving to outright house and techno, but again doing so with their inimitable style firmly in place.

There is a definite ebb and flow to the pace of the record, which never hurries nor dawdles. The beautiful, haunting rise of warm analog synthesizers merges well with a multitracked and manipulated vocal sample on opener "I Waited For You."



The shuffling rhythms of "Cerulean" get bolder and more insistent, keeping up with the burbling electronics, and slight air of menace underneath.



"Seraphim" returns to the feel of the opening track, synth strings enveloping a lush vocal sample, before an army of gorgeous analog synths take things over.



The album highlight is "A Species Out Of Control," taking its cues from a more industrial influence. Icy and hard edged synth blasts fight against one another as a pulsing rhythm pushes the track out on the dancefloor. The track can be heard here.

"Interference" is a deliciously retro techno track; silky drum programming underneath a wild array of wonky synthesizers. The track can be heard here.

"Put Your Hands Together" builds another house track with another vocal sample repeated like a mantra over a throbbing four to the floor beat.



Had the album ended here it would likely, for me, have been a near masterpiece. The flow and pace of this part of the record is practically flawless, Ford and Shaw in perfect control of where the record is headed, and flooding the ears with amazing melodies and sounds. The remaining 3 tracks, while not disasters, just don't have the same feel and slow the dynamics down some. "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife" is mired in its difficult techno wrappings, the arrhythmical drum programming and synths fighting too much against one another. "Your Love Ain't Fair" fares better, though the erratic vocal sample lacks the pull and charm of the earlier samples, and again, seems to fight against the flow of the track. And the album closes out with "Pareidolia," a meandering techno track with water torture drum programming and glitchy electronics that ends things on a rather obtuse note.

Despite the eventual running slightly off the rails of the last 3 tracks, the first 6 songs more than make up for these sputterings. Unpatterns definitely advances Simian Mobile Disco's sound and reveals Ford and Shaw as cunningly imaginative electronic artists. If this album sheds light on their future, it is indeed going to be a bright one.

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 piques 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.