Following on from their 2014 release, Preternaturals, Manchurian synth-pop experimentalists have announced their fourth full-length record, Fulfour, due for release September 16th on Thrill Jockey.
Keeping their heads down for the most part, this London-based duo have been releasing a steady stream of innovative psychedelic pop albums for the past 4 years. The musical partnership, quoted as being about “joy, bliss, friendship and expression” could be the secret to that vitality. Their new album, Furfour, is a record that acts as the sum of a dizzying array of creative projects by two figures in an esoteric underground still surviving, despite the pressures of modern London. It takes common themes like birth, loss, friendship and death, and filters them through fantasy, sci-fi, Carlos Castenada and meditation.
These emotions are subsequently felt on their latest offering, Acid Ali Kahn, though shifting some of their earlier psych-elements for warm, warbling synth melodies. A shifting arpeggio and soft, motorik beat guide the listener into what is essentially an 80’s-inspired synth ballad, though soulful, slower in melody and less conventional at the hook. Its heavy presence of bass keeps it firmly in the danceable realm, but incorporated is a tight and confident instrumentation that reveals their willingness to meddle with rhythm in an unconventional way.
Grumbling Fur – “Furfour”
Out 16th September via Thrill Jockey
Available on LP / CD / DL – Preorder here
1. Strange the Friends
2. Acid Ali Khan
3. Heavy Days
4. Molten Familiar
5. Milky Light
6. Pyewacket’s Palace
7. Perfect Reader
8. Silent Plans/Black Egg
9. Golden Simon
10. Sapien Sapiens
11. Come Down and Watch Them
12. Suneaters