PRETZ – SOUNDCASTLES (i-LABEL)
June 21st, 2006 by soyo
Been missing Fragile State? In need of some soaring emotional chilled music? Look no further – Pretz has arrived. Neil Cowley, one half of the much missed, much loved Fragile State duo (the other of course being Ben Mynott) has come up trumps with a real beaut of an album.
The production of “Soundcastles” was a long and tortuous process by the sound of things. The loss of a label, a band, a close relative and his mojo looked to have knocked the stuffing out of Neil. But time spent in the studio in an empty house, together with some friendly coaxing motivated him to continue his project. For that we should be grateful. For all the problems associated with its production, the finished result is chock full of joy and is incredibly uplifting.
“Soundcastles” contains some of the most emotional instrumental music I have heard for long time. The Fragile State sound is there, if there can be such a thing. The familiar Rhodes and assorted keyboards take centre stage as with Fragile State, but they (particularly the former) seem to have been given more free reign. Cowley’s jazz fingers certainly do the walking, and indeed the talking. No mistake though, they are firmly under control and don’t get all “ooh listen me, aren’t I the jazz virtuoso”. By bringing some electronic music induced control to rein in the jazz influences, and adding his classical ear and some simulated classical strings to the tracks he gets the mix of influences bang-on right.
Opening track and first single “Goodbye Ferrers” (check it out on www.myspace.com/pretzuk) is a laidback number perfectly setting the tone of the album, an unravelling Rhodes, lofty strings, incomprehensible ( in a good Cocteau Twins way) and vaguely ethnic female vocals all working to an effective emotional pull. “Chapel Stile” takes a more jazzy path and is a perfect example of Neil’s effortless keyboard control.
What impressed me on first hearing was the band Neil had put together for the album. How stupid did I feel when I discovered that he plays everything on the album? Not only that, all of the sounds have been emulated on computer. We are talking some serious anorak hours here to get these sounds just right, that fretless bass sound on the playful and deliriously happy “Zazie Skips the Pond”, had me fooled. A more electronic sound pops up on the way too short “Don’t Blink”, and “Round Blue Glasses”. Both pieces are simultaneously joyous and melancholic, a knack that Pretz is particularly good at. The fat and funky “Texas Exhale” sounds great through headphones, the Rhodes pinging and panning through the space between you ears.
The unbelievably catchy yet moving “Rain Strut” dares to get up to 120bpm, and its b-line is about the closest thing Soundcastles gets to inviting you to rise up from your horizontal position and dance, whilst at the same time raising a tingle down your spine, wonderful!. Closing track “ Buzz Charge” starts with the biggest washes this side of the Albert Square launderette and mutates into an epic throb punctuated with emulated marimbas and brass section. As it fades you know you should have set your cd player to repeat.
For Fragile State fans this is an essential summer purchase. In fact for fans of quailty downtempo music, this is an essential purchase.
My album of the year so far.
Soyo
