If you ever wondered what Russian shoegaze sounds like, this album may help. Nole Plastique are Roman Kutnov and Alesksei Belousov. This, their first full length CD. It contains 11 tracks of old school psychedelia mixed with shades of electro-glitch.
The loose, amateurish feel seems deliberate since they set out to create a sound that is "unmastered, hissy, detuned and very raw", wanting the focus to be more on strange songs instead of experimental instrumentals, But ,either through lack the confidence or absence of wherewithal, they don't follow these ideas through with any conviction.
It's an album which has a certain lo-fi charm but is let down by a wandering focus, there's little to suggest that they have any clear direction in mind, This is particularly evident on a track like 'Mixing, Shaking,Breaking' where the jerky beat winds up going nowhere fast. Often you get the feeling that a simple song is struggling to escape from all the layers of sound they pile on top.
Syd Barrett-like vocals are mostly buried deep in the mixes often making words all but indiscernable. When you can hear them you quickly realise you're not missing much, unless that is you can find pearls of wisdom in lines like "Can you feel the way I do?" (In Things Around) or "Take a chance to stay inside my mind" (Sunset Stipple).
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The cut'n'paste quality makes for an uneven collection which is at its best on a track like Blue Fries where a jarring atonal noises gradually evolve into a tribal drumbeat and something approaching a motorik Krautrock rhythm.
'Sunset Stipple' , an approximation of a song with no clear beginning or definite ending, is the most successful in capturing the we are floating in space mood.
Too often ,however, I can't help thinking that the duo would be better off creating abstract noise than worrying over song structures.
11t 47.09 mins
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