Kate Hennessy : Freelance Writer

First published on Mess+Noise.

Ex Tropical’ – the debut album for Lost Animal – is nothing short of breezy, seedy brilliance from a nonchalant savant. Words by KATE HENNESSY.

Lost Animal is the solo project of Jarrod Quarrell, previously singer and songwriter in St Helens. St Helens broke up in 2010, just a year after their acclaimed debut LP Heavy Profession was released. Reportedly the band split so Quarrell could focus on Lost Animal, and now comes Ex Tropical, the fruit of that premature divorce.

On a first listen, it’s a weird ride. Ex Tropical takes the balmy island vibe of dub reggae and ices it way down, re-locating it somewhere urban and mean. It layers the mid-tempo schmaltz of ’80s funk-soul ballads with morose horns a la Morphine and the chic Caribbean groove of Grace Jones. There’s washes of dubstep warble, mawkish keys and several echoes of early Eno. Tying it all together is Quarrell’s voice, that same worldly, windswept drawl that made St Helens fans swoon. What he lacks in range he bleeds in cool, managing to fuse nonchalance with intensity; insouciance with intent.

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First published in The Brag, here.

Small Craft On A Milk Sea is Brian Eno’s first record on cult UK label Warp, and a collaboration with electronic composers Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams. One assumes Eno – lauded by Pitchfork sycophants as “ambient godfather/mega producer/art-rock legend” – had complete artistic license given his legendary status, yet Small Craft nestles with sinister perfection into Warp’s catalogue alongside acts like Battles, PVT and Aphex Twin in ways his previous records would not.

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First published on Mess+Noise, here.

Traditionally, the beauty of a Black Cab song takes grip gradually. Not so ‘Sexy Polizei’. It’s a looker from the start, a single that’s been crafted to lure the lascivious gaze of strangers. ‘Sexy Polizei’ will please fans both old and new. Like the two nerds in John Hughes’ Weird Science, who feed data into their computer to make the “perfect woman”, Black Cab’s creation has emerged from the machine sexy – and smart too.

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Much has been made of the fact that Pikelet, aka Evelyn Morris, was the drummer in Baseball. Why? Because her second LP ‘Stem’ is such a delicately-crafted, kaleidoscopic affair that it’s hard to imagine the chick who used to slaughter the skins in a hardcore band could possibly dream it up.

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