Capturing phantom drones behind dusty beats and haunted twangs, Ellis Swan and James Schimpl return for their third album as Dead Bandit. Locked into a musical language unique to their collaboration, the duo once again put us out to pasture across broad sonic plains, drums flapping like loose fence panels in the prairie breeze and bass rumbling like distant thunder. True to their previous two records, Swan and Schimpl keep the strung out guitars at the front of what they do, whether playing a naked, desolate strum or running six strings through disruptive effects processing until they’re barely recognisable.
But while there are details of disturbance when listening to Dead Bandit’s self-titled record up close, the wider impression is a smoother, more direct affair that toys with post-rock complexity and matches it with the emotional weight of melodic simplicity, gentle grooves and conscious arrangements. ‘Weeds‘ offsets its languid fuzz guitar with shimmering sustained notes before settling into a patient, heavy-hearted composition charged with heartbreak leads pealing out in the middle distance. ‘Up To Your Waist‘ finds a cautious serenity in the lilt of its swing and wistful, picked-out A-B structure, striking the most open and optimistic tone on the album without ever lost in its own levity.
Pre-order HERE
This is the third book of the Ten Poets series, and once again serves as…
Photo courtesy of the artist. Independent indie pop-rock project Strangers Unveil is captivating global audiences…
Photo courtesy of the artist. Singer-songwriter Lana Crow recently shook up the indie pop-rock scene…
Photo courtesy of the band. Riga-based alternative rock four-piece Les Attitudes Spectrales officially released their…
Photo courtesy of the artist. Scottish-Portuguese indie project Forgotten Garden has beautifully captured the essence…
The contemporary indie pop and post-pop scene can occasionally feel a bit too sanitized, often…