Some albums just don't leap out at first. There can be many reasons for this, and as a reviewer, but also first and foremost as a music fan, I'm all too aware of the fact that if I catch an album on the wrong day, in the wrong setting or while in the wrong mood, I might react very differently from how I would have reacted had any of the variables been altered, perhaps even slightly.
Whatever the reasons – my not having been particularly taken with any of Devonte Hynes' previous projects not being amongst them – my initial response to 'Coastal Grooves' was somewhere between indifference and minor annoyance. The whimsical, Japanese influence that graces the descending guitar motif of 'Forget It' is repeated on 'Sutphine Boulevard' in the form of a slowed-down piece of chopstick action. And then again, so it seemed, on every other track on the album. The novelty had worn thin by the midway point, and after that I simply found myself growing increasingly frustrated.
But repeat listens reveal numerous facets to what at first may appear to be a rather two-dimensional album. There's a chugging guitar that underpins the light yet solid AOR / Indie crossover of opener 'Forget It', while 'Sutphine Boulevard' may be a slower tempo and incorporate well-worn Japanese-inspired scales, but it's also got a
Then there's the sped-up Shadows play Ennio Morriocone style twang of 'I'm Sorry We Lied' which counters the pentatonics with an urgent, rumbling bassline and insistent rapid-fire snare-driven rhythm track that builds a tangible tension. 'Complete failure' is sparse and fragile and has echoes of John Leyton's 'Johnny Remember Me' about it, albeit perhaps played by Young Marble Giants, while there's a real restraint that keeps a check of the minimalist groove that snakes through 'Instantly Blank'. A subliminal funk forms the foundations of 'The Complete Knock', and moody closer 'Champaigne Coast' does – and in some ways it pains me to say it – in some respects sound like a stripped-back reworking of a Prince track: maybe it's the vocals, maybe it's the smooth production. Over both, the Japanese scales chime once more, and while they do recur across the album, they're not nearly as dominant as I may have first thought before I began to note the other details and layers on what is, it has to be said, a very carefully and intelligently constructed album. Rather than dominate, these noodlesome guitar and synth parts are embedded and incorporated to achieve a range of effects.
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Sometimes, it's worth persevering.
Blood Orange Online
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