It’s like 1969 had never gone away. Well, not
quite, but with the overlooked Squire
Of Somerton superb Transverberations,
released only a few months ago, and now Manitoba’s
eagerly awaited second album, Up In Flames,
it feels like psychedelica is fashionable again. If
the Squire
based his compositions entirely on guitars, Manitoba’s
Dan Snaith takes electronica to a complete new level,
keen as he is to move away from the bleep ’n’
glitch favoured by the great majority of electronic
musicians and develop something unique.
Spending most of his time between Toronto and London,
Snaith has become a much-respected figure both in Europe
and America, gaining respect from fans and press alike
through his live shows and storming DJ sets. When he
burst on the electronic scene two years ago with his
first album Start Breaking
My Heart, he was virtually unknown, having
only released one EP, People Eating Fruit,
the year before. Playfully assembling elements of ambient,
folk, jazz and rock into an imaginative series of heart-warming
compositions, Snaith demonstrated that there was more
to electronic music than bleeps, glitches and drones,
and if connections could be established with the melodic
school, led by Boards Of Canada,
on a few tracks, the variety of sounds used and the
sheer energy of the music established Manitoba as one
of the most exiting musicians to emerge that year. And
he reaffirms now that he doesn’t give a shit about
the electronic scene by turning his back on laptop gigs
and putting together a proper live band to take his
music on the road. At only 24, Dan Snaith is firmly
taking his destiny in his hands.
Up In Flames comes hot on the heels of a very
limited 12”-only EP, If Arseholes Could Fly
This Place Would Be An Airport, and the excellent
Jacknuggeted single. Setting the tone from
the very beginning of I’ve Live On A Dirt
Road All My Life with reversed vocals, deafening
drums and intricate orchestration, Snaith takes what
made Start Breaking
My Heart such a clever album and magnifies
it, injecting his songs with dense soundscapes, using
everything from guitars and glockenspiel to frog and
cricket noises and dog barks. Far from being a monstrosity,
Up In Flames is beautiful, extremely pertinent…
and far too short. Cramming ten songs in less than forty
minutes, there is no time for lost moments. Everything
counts in this iconoclastic mix of psychedelic rock,
jazz and pop. The focus here is on actual song forms,
with Snaith venturing into adding some textured vocals
on a few tracks, evoking in turn Spiritualized,
My Bloody Valentines or The Beach Boys. The variety
of tones developing all the way through goes against
the majority of the current electronic releases and
places Manitoba in a very singular position, in which
he is able to pioneer new grounds for the post-electronica
generation. Up In Flame is far more focussed
and coherent than its predecessor, and the soundscapes
appear denser and tighter, as the recent single proved
beyond doubt. All ten songs seem to be built following
similar rules, yet each track is ultimately given a
unique twist through the actual orchestration. As he
carves his melodies onto complex organic backgrounds,
Snaith makes good use of deadly calm moments and awesome
accelerations, giving his compositions some interesting
definitions.
With Up In Flames opening new grounds for electronic
musicians, and demonstrating the excellent musical capacities
of Dan Snaith, Start
Breaking My Heart now seems like a gentle walk
in the park. With its many textures, flamboyant instrumentation
and shimmering melodies, this album will have you on
your knees gagging for more.
4.9/5 |
