Hmmm. What can we say about Somadrone’s Fuzzing Away Like A Whisper? Well, there’s plenty really. Avant garde but accessible – musical even – this mesmerising album vaults off into all kinds of strange places, layering lush strings and vibraphone musings across a beeping, chattering ambient sound.
It’s quite its own thing. But what is it exactly? What section in the proverbial good record store should one hasten to? Even Neil O’ Connor, the daring young man behind it all, is a bit stuck for a tidy summation.
“It is ambient in places but I wouldn’t say it was chill-out because that just makes me think of a couple having a dinner party in Ranelagh,” he says. “I don’t want to make wallpaper. At least I hope I’m not.”
No danger there. While Fuzzing Away Like A Whisper can sound mood driven and evocative, with echoes of Mum, Stereolab and Aphex Twin, between the more electrified experimentation, you can find the gorgeous string work of Abigail Smith and Lioba Pietrie and hugely variable synth sounds. The moog, vibraphone and piano are all duly represented.
“I love the vibraphone,” gushes Neil. “It’s originally a jazz instrument and because it’s so big and impressive, people assume it’s really complicated and that you must have trained on it for years and years.
"Actually, it’s such a beautiful sound, it’s hard to go wrong with it, even if you’re touching one for the first time. I do love keyboards generally. Probably because I’m crap at guitar.
"I play keyboards for The Redneck Manifesto and The Connect Four Orchestra and it’d be embarrassing trying to keep-up with the Rednecks on guitar, so I’m happier where I am. Abigail and Lioba are friends of mine, but they’re there because I did a course in Trinity which totally opened up things for me in terms of possibilities and ways of doing things. It allowed the folk and classical music I listen to to find a way in there.”
Largely though, Fuzzing is entirely down to Neil’s tinkering away in the studio. Though known for his musicianship, and undoubtedly kept busy with The Redneck Manifesto, Jape, Goodtime John and The Connect Four Orchestra, not to mention his doctorate in music and technology at Trinity, Mr. O Connor has been working on the recording for some four years. Longer, if one factors in Let’s Depart, Somadrone’s 2001 10” release on Mango Records, now available on CD as part of the Fuzzing Away package.
“It has been a bit epic,” explains Neil. “There were a couple of computer breakdowns and then I lost a computer and a four track. So it has been a bit haphazard and whenever I lost material I had to start from scratch again. In a way that’s worked out because that’s given some tracks a totally different feel and perspective.”
So, rather boringly, O'Connor and I conclude that this fine seventh release from the impressively hip Trust Me I’m A Thief stable is probably best described as 'electropop' – a dodgy handle that can lead right to the feet of Rachel Stevens if you’re not careful.
“It’s a hard one,” agrees Neil. “Some people put the CD in the dance section. But I’ve seen it in rock and pop sections too. I just think it should be filed under miscellaneous. But I guess 'electropop' is acceptable.”
Whatever the section, just go get it.