In December 2013, Yon Yonson dropped the best EP of 2014. Hypomantra is eight tracks of exploratory, experimental pop weirdness and naturally I got all tangled about it and wrote some really rather gushing things over at Mess + Noise. In April, and here’s where it gets good, I doctored some images of the band members into compromising situations and used these images to blackmail the two (sometimes three) piece into our very first live session and thus, Sound Doctrine Show & Tell was born. YonYon invited us round to Rick’s backyard where they played the title track from their EP while Matt Davis filmed and Joe Hardy recorded and the end result is, I think, rather wonderful.
So, without further ado,
Sound Doctrine Show & Tell Presents
Yon Yonson – Hypomantra
Yep, the ol’ blog’s been pretty active lately. I’ve been told by a few people that it’s actually been too active. Those people are dead wrong and more than that, they’re repugnant humans. I think it’s been right on point and all the more impressive that I’ve managed it amid the other things I’ve had on. Sure I’m navigating my usual 9-5 but I also go out of my way to keep a few separate endeavours on the bubble. Most notably I’ve been playing an IOS game called Dragon Coins this past fortnight which is more time expensive than you might think, mostly because this damn Midasbane won’t evolve into a full blown Grotslang without more coins. Always more coins. Not made up names by the way, Dragon Coins doesn’t work in half measures, you live by the coin or you die by the coin.
Yet, somehow, here I am again with more Sydney music for your dumb ears that don’t even deserve it. I offer forth a beat constructor named Jonathan Baker but henceforth we’ll refer to him by his music pseudonym Anatole. His music almost feels mathematical in its precision as if the introduction and removal of each track’s various elements is the outcome of a definite algorithm. The timing demonstrated across these sonic ins and outs is straight meticulous and the elements themselves are delightfully crisp from the perfectly sharp string manipulations in ‘Westbrook’ to the rattle and crunch found littered throughout ‘Undercurrent’. Anatole has a fantastic ear for textures, pairing the thin sounds in ‘Undercurrent’ with the lush warm piano overtones to make a piece of singular depth and beauty.
He’s dropped a few singles over the last twelve months but only truly blooded himself with his Westbrook EP this May. It came to me the same way everything on Sound Doctrine does, through a drug fueled internet dreamquest / Tim Shiel’s extensive bandcamp orienteering and hopefully it sits with you as well as it has for me. Let the weekend commence.
New Seekae. Do we need a backstory? Do we need incentive? No & no. It sounds like what I always imagined I’lls might sound like with some bonus BPM points. In years to come I’ll tell my grandchildren that I was the fourth stream on the second single from the third Seekae record. Noone can take that away from me.
Yujen’s new EP is now one day out into the world and while I’m not one to stream full EPs (except for sometimes when I do) I’ve still taken the opportunity to listen through the thing and pick out the first fruits of the six. Wait, no, the second. Heirloom from last year is on here and that’s my cut. Actually, we probably shouldn’t overlook the Chet Faker collab ‘Try It Over‘ which too isn’t without its merits and so we come to the third of the list, ‘Enough By Now’. It’s hazy and atmospheric and the sort of song that pushes music bloggers to use lazy descriptors in the absence of any stand-out minutiae for them to cling to. “Washes of sound?” – I’ll say it. “Bed of synth?” – I’m not above it. Maybe though, I’ve actually got it all wrong and it’s the sheer quantity of minutiae that together form one overarching blanket of noise so as that when vocals sink in, you barely recognize the door they entered through let alone acknowledge their arrival. Subtlety is the name of the game here and the game is being played very well indeed. No Aware EP is out through Detail Co. and listenababable in its entirety.
Spirit Faces is like climate change; it’s happening right now and whether or not you choose to act, it will affect the future of all humankind. That may sound like an ovestatement but come on, you’re reading an Australian music blog so if you’re shocked then you’re probably new to this. Sorry guys, that was mean. But it’s hard to write about a song that is truly exceptional; you don’t want to misrepresent it or impose your own meaning. Ideally music writing brings something additional to the tune; a framework or context for listening. Sometimes though, art causes a reaction in us that is visceral and limited by words.
This is one of the most fully realised musical pieces I’ve heard in a long time. It’s the real deal, the full package. There’s a significant weight of emotion behind the lyrics, a heaviness that feels genuine and unforced. The exquisite descending piano progression only adds to this. It swings effortlessly between melodic ballad and grinding synth onslaught in a way that pays tribute to influences ranging from The Beatles to Kanye West. Mastered by Vlado Meller (who as it happened also worked on Yeezus) and produced by Sydney’s own Zebra Zap, every moment is musically exciting and painfully gentle.
I’m told that this tune forms part of an upcoming EP called Bedroom Music. To see Spirit Faces live, get yourself to the Corner Co-op Gallery in Chippendale on June 27. Loads more info here.
