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| 3.5 great | zillah | December 17th 11 |
Diagrams is new musical project of Sam Genders, one of the founding members of folktronica outfit Tunng, still going and now six members strong. Tunng was a pretty weird, atonal bunch when I first starting listening to them in the mid 00s, but their sound brightened up considerably after Genders' departure on 2010's And Then We Saw Land. So I (excitedly) bought this EP expecting something dark and weird and blatantly uncommerical from Genders on his own. Actually, the Diagrams EP suggests he has gone as soft as his former bandmates. This isn't a bad thing; "Antelope" overlays its electronica foundations with bouncey brass, strings and accoustic guitar, and the only real anamoly is the lyrics praising a lover (who embodies the titular antelope) rather than telling Tales from the Black. "Hill" sounds like the poppiest Tom Waits song imaginable. The highlight, and biggest surprise, though, is "Woking", an absolutely gorgeous, absolutely minimal ballad that finds Genders harmonizing by turns with a muted trumpet and with himself and calling to mind, of all things, Grizzly Bear's "Cheerleader". Previews suggest the first proper Diagrams album, due out in January, will be a little darker and weirder (i.e. expected), so maybe this EP was just a poppy one-off for the warm English summer rather than a sign of things to come. Either way, it's really good.
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