Pur Cosy Tales consists of thirty-two songs
that stretch and tingle for a little more than an hour.
Most pieces are short, snippets seemingly cut from a
larger cloth. The press release indicates that Kyler
is an alternative moniker for the delectably christened
Shitmat. It’s quickly evident that Pur Cosy
Tales is less abrasive and somewhat more contemplative
than Shitmat’s standard fare. Which is not to
say that this is happy-valley ambient, there’s
far too much going on for easy digestion by silver surfers.
In fact, samples, beats and sly quotes abound. Pebbletron
ends with a snatch of Led Zep’s Stairway To
Heaven; more endearingly its successor Pilgrim
Rise features a vocal by what might just be a Norfolk
folk singer (I say Norfolk because Pur Cosy Tales
is a work about the artist’s home in that county).
The fifty-four second Which Country is a brief
breakbeat outing birthed in gentle acoustic guitar and
extinguished with a sputter like a pixelated candle.
Inevitably, the long shadow of Richard
James falls over a project such as this, particularly
in light of James’s
own rural background. Pur Cosy Tales fails
to best its spiritual predecessor, but nonetheless it’s
a thoroughly enjoyable mapping of points both evocative
and otherwise. Having said that, the nature of its materials
does raise questions, primarily relating to the predominantly
electronic nature of the sounds. It is difficult to
associate the image of the flat Norfolk terrain with
Kyler’s breaks and sudden flashes of noise. As
if to deliberately contradict such reservations, along
comes Lovejoy with its cuckoo-like woodwind
sample, clicks and brushes and, hot on its heels, follows
the mellifluous John with its courtly, almost
medieval accents. Pur Cosy Tales is a rich
and varied work, alternately gentle, playful and reflective.
Well worth a listen.
Colin Buttimer
3.5/5 |
