What is it with artists heading off to deserted barns in order to record new material at the moment? Everyone is at it. Adding their names to the ever growing list of musicians who end up hunting earthworms and drinking puddle water as supplies run out and with the recording unfinished are husband and wife Rachel and Xavier Watkins – or Fuzzy Lights.
Perhaps feasting on invertebrates wasn’t actually necessary during their sessions as the music on the EP is actually rather beautiful and touching, suggesting that nothing too traumatic occurred during their Peak District jaunt, but there are some harrowing moments to be found on Helm.
This is an almost ethereal set of songs which are rather hard to stay focused on as they drift across the receptors of the brain – numbing them as they go.
‘Things We Left Behind’ is introduced with a drum beat that bontempi would be embarrassed by such is its the tinny, rudimentary construction. Two seconds in and it’s not looking too good. Such concerns are quickly swept to one side by narcoleptic vocals from Rachel and Xavier that drift along in a daze which is beyond apathetic. Droning keyboards add a further layer of heavy-lidded dozing to proceedings and when sweeping violins are gracefully added into the mix, the oppressive haze becomes all enveloping.
‘Aira’ is a rustic folk song that wouldn’t have sounded out of place had it crept on to Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ soundtrack for The Road. Deft finger picked guitars dance around elegant violins as the mood switches constantly between the beautiful and the terrifying. There is something black of heart lurking with the atmospheric wonder of ‘Aira’. It never quite makes itself known but it is almost certainly there.
‘Burn With Light’s’ discordant violins leave no doubt in the mind that there’s something unpleasant going on. No matter how many angelic voices Fuzzy Lights thrown into the mix and how relentless the single repeated motif is, it is all too disturbing to induce the hypnotic state achieved by ‘Things We Left Behind’.
Things are bought to a close with ‘Black Diamond’, which returns to the folkier leanings of ‘Aira’. Rachel Watkins provides a ghostly vocal that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in the Wicker Man while the droning violins evoke images of a slowly setting sun, cooling in the waters of the horizon. It’s basic, but enormously effective.
The only problem with Helm is that it is an EP and by the last few notes, the sense that there aren’t more of these evocative soundscapes to immerse yourself in is utterly disappointing – unlike every otherworldly moment of this EP.
Earlier this year Xavier and Rachel Watkins, the husband and wife leaders from Cambridge-based post rockers Fuzzy Lights paused the recording process of their new LP and took a break with their band to the Lake District where they reassessed things and with minimal recording equipment recorded this EP intended for release as a precursor to the main event in an isolated cabin.
Of the four resulting tracks on offer opener ‘Things We Left Behind’ is the dud. The thin processed beats infect the otherwise adequate tune with an awkward rhythm that ruins any chance I have of engaging with the song. The rest of ‘Helm’ though is a resounding success.
If you have are obsessed like me with the likes of Silver Mt. Zion and Godspeed You Black Emperor then ‘Aira’ and the beautifully enchanting ‘Burn With Light’ will enthral you and get you digging out those old Constellation Records releases. The creaky violins and distant choral chants juxtapose with the bright hook laden melodies to create a timeless trio of songs that culminate with ‘Black Diamond’ where Rachel takes a lead vocal role. This song is the folksier of the three and the closest to what fans of the band would recognise as a standard Fuzzy Lights song. The way her vocals are buried creates a haunting edge to the track that although has become common practise today (see the delightful Broadcast and the Focus Group album released last year for evidence of this) still works well enough to leave the listener spooked.
If the band had omitted the drum machine on ‘Things We Left Behind’ they would find themselves here with a near perfect EP as any band in any era or location could ever dream of making. Even with its opening affliction ‘Helm’ must be considered nothing short of a flawed masterpiece.
After hearing that husband and wife Rachel and Xavier Watkins, the two heads behind Fuzzy Lights had descended into the Peak District, I feared some kind of tortuous Bon Iver-like release. Thankfully it seems that they have covered deeper ground, falling into pot holes, dwelling in the blackness. Helm is a ray of sunshine peeking through wire wool clouds.
I’ve got to admit that this is the first Fuzzy Lights recording I’ve heard, and it has left me in quite the tizzy. Sitting here on a sunny Sunday evening, tapping away like a flustered Woodpecker on a tea stained keyboard; normally at this time of the day I’m weeping wilder than Harvey Keitel in the original Bad Lieutenant, lamenting my woes. Today is different; I am actually overwhelmed with feelings of bliss.
‘Things We Left Behind’ with its Casio keyboard generic drum beat, and Bowie’s Low atmospherics mix with Xavier’s contemplative tone. ‘Aira’ provides thorny strings; parched throats wait for a voice that never comes. ‘Burn With Light’ soundtracks a wingspan in flight, then a feather tears away, falling into harsh bracken.
Pause for thought. What the hell am I jabbering on about?
Oh, yeah. This is moving, stirring, uplifting music. Rounded off by ‘Black Diamond’ (no, not a cover of the Kiss classic) which again sprinkles dandelion light acoustics with those sharp strings, Rachel Watkins provides a ghostly testimony from a distant hilltop somewhere miles away. The last minute of the song descends into unsympathetic rainfall.
Excuse the prattling prose. Listen to this EP.
We’re really stoked to announce we have been invited to play at the End of the Road Festival in September. Some of us went in the last couple of years and it’s really one of the best festivals around, it’s on a beautiful site and has a truly special and magic atmosphere.
This year the festival site will open on the Thursday and there will be music from that day with a secret headliner and loads of amazing bands, so it’s a good idea to stay the whole 4 days. We’re still sorting out the exact date and time we’re going to play and will keep you posted as soon as we know!
END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL, 09-12th September 2010
This year’s End of the Road Festival will be the fifth instalment of a very special event that won Best New Festival at the UK Festival Awards 2006. It’s an intimate affair, which takes place at the beautiful Larmer Tree Gardens in North Dorset. The festival has a unique selection of music over four stages with bands including Wilco, Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, Black Mountain, Felice Brothers, Iron & Wine, Wolf Parade, Caribou and more playing amongst specially curated comedy and cinema tents, a mysterious library and piano in the woods, a Healing Retreat, Swedish Viking games, a wide range of delicious local and organic food, as well as the lovely company of free roaming peacocks and parrots. Come join us!
Although Fuzzy Lights’ 2008 debut LP, A Distant Voice, was certainly an impressive introduction, its somewhat austere and inconclusive character didn’t welcome as many return visits as it first seemed open to. However, this newly-cut 4-track EP does feel like a far more engaging and welcoming creature, even if it comes with the disclaimer of being unindicative of the group’s sophomore long-player, due out later this later. In some ways, Helm radiates like a different band. Which is true in a roundabout way, given that core – and married – members Xavier and Rachel Watkins appear to have recorded some/all of this 4-tracker without their regular full set of bandmates. Yet even if it is more of a between-album detour than a new forward route, this EP stands up sturdily to scrutiny.
Opener “Things We Left Behind” is a mesmeric smouldering triumph. With its desiccated drum machine, grimy keyboards, serene strings and murkily-cloaked duetting vocals, the prologue piece feels like a finely-matched collaboration between Arab Strap, Thurston Moore and Yo La Tengo. In its wake, the insistent voice-free arrangement of droning violins and earthy finger-picking across “Aira” imagines a long lost Velvet Underground barn session. “Burn With Lights” is more impressive still, with its layers of wordless incantations and treated violins being stretched over six sublime minutes. The closing “Black Diamond” offers a slightly lighter touch to round proceedings off, through a blur of rippling acoustic guitars, strings and distantly-relayed vocals. Although a sense of violence cuts in towards the song’s end, it crucially holds back from drawing blood.
Whether Fuzzy Lights’ upcoming Twin Feathers LP will match the diverse yet compact execution present here remains to be heard. Should it not however, there is certainly plenty of dark intriguing matter left to be drawn from the same well of inspiration in future. In the interim, this EP sounds exceptional in its own pocket of time.
