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Review "Cut a remote island in two and place one half to your ear…" is how Cate Le Bon sells this album. That's a pretty esoteric description, but as you listen to the Welshwoman's second LP, it starts to make sense. Cyrk is a curious musical brew that blends Velvet Underground-style shaggy jangles with a kind of bucolic psych-folk sound. There are also some unexpected embellishments: parping brass at the end of Greta, Mike Garson-ish piano on Through the Mill, blasts of sax to round off two-part album closer Ploughing Out.If the album's metaphorical land mass is remote, it's also rather eerie. The mid-tempo drone of Julia could soundtrack an age-old pagan ritual, while Greta is pretty spooky stuff for a song about a baby niece. "You existed in moonlight before you were born," Le Bon croons over a heavy fog of a synth line.This ominous atmosphere is intensified by Le Bon's clipped, Nico-like vocals and largely ambiguous lyrics. The Cardiff-based chanteuse – a sort of protégé of Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals – has developed a set method of songwriting. She pens her melodies first; then she mouths the sounds that she wants her lyrics to emulate; but she doesn't finish them until the night before recording. As a result, her songs don't really tell straightforward stories; they paint impressionistic pictures instead. Le Bon's not averse to the odd nifty couplet though. "What I hoped for most / Was to be his greatest host," she sings on The Man I Wanted, a song which perfectly captures the thick, oppressive nature of romantic desire.Cyrk is as idiosyncratic as an album named after the Polish word for circus probably ought to be, but it's not inaccessible. Songs like Fold the Cloth, Puts Me to Work and Through the Mill are underpinned by ringing guitar hooks and Le Bon speckles everything with pretty (if pretty unsettling) vocal melodies. The result is a rare beast: a genuinely off-kilter pop record that never feels too self-conscious or contrived. --Nick Levine Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off in a new window
J**R
Welsh pyschedelia
More of Cate Le Bon's highly disciplined creativity. This isn't a million miles from her first album, My Oh My. The rhythms remain uncomplicated, the arrangements simple and sparse: the pleasure lies in the melodies (I think the melodic lines have a deep relationship to Welsh speech patterns), and in her gorgeous, natural voice. Check out her videos at: [...]Note that the vinyl *does* come with an MP3 download code (at least mine did), but it's lightweight vinyl.
S**M
Fold the cloth is brilliant
Three stars for some of it, six stars for most of it.
G**I
Bought For My Daughter
Listened to this once and came to the conclusion It was another of my daughters weird pres ents. Having said that though I thought the 2nd Half was better than the first.
S**Y
Some promising bits but a tad self indulgent
This album has 10 tracks over around 35 minutes. All songs are written by Cate Le Bon (one a co-write); there are 6 supporting musicians credited (some of the names just about legible through the plastic disc-holder).The lady has a very pleasant (husky/strong) voice and some nice turns of phrase + there is some decent "psych" instrumentation - can't argue with any of that. However, none of the tunes stick and it gets a bit "samey"- a bit noodley/self indulgent.There's no information given re who played what instruments and no lyrics are included - both black marks for this purchaser.Its worth a listen but is a bit too "clever for the sake of it" for me. Clearly some talent but needs to give a bit more to the listener if its to be developed.
R**Y
"Cut a remote island in two & place one half to your ear..."
Picking up where Me Oh My, her splendidly warped 2009 debut, left off, Cyrk intensifies the Nuggets-styled psych-weirdness, draws the curtains & wistfully gazes out in the moonlight. Though a slightly darker proposition than it's predecessor - lyrically, certainly - Cate has nonetheless conjured up another clutch of instantly memorable melodies that perform that savvy trick of simultaneously seeming utterly fresh & frustratingly familiar.Though she's still obviously very fond of Stephen Malkmus's cockeyed approach to songwriting - Cyrk occasionally sounds like a Trish Keenan-fronted Wowee Zowee-era Pavement grappling with Faust's "It's A Bit Of A Pain", it has to be said (fine by me, frankly!) - she's excelled herself in terms of eerie, indelible hooks & eccentric, opaque wordplay this time 'round. At the moment, my favourite tracks are the vespertine "The Man I Wanted" (a curious "down-but-not-out"-type lament), & the pleasantly disturbed "Greta" (which reminds me, a wee bit, of "Jugband Blues"), but I expect I'll have changed my mind again by the time you read this. After all, at a succinct 35 minutes' duration, there's no room for filler.It's still only July, but I can't imagine they'll be many better LPs released this year.
A**R
Five Stars
Hassle free purchase, how it should be. Thanks.
S**M
classy girl singer guitarist
great cd this girl is so good buy everything she does .she's even Better live go and see her great girl
M**V
uno dei dischi dell'anno...
...tra Nico e stereolab in salsa folk Kraut.....le parole però non bastano..meglio ascoltare!..bello bello bello bello bella bella bella lei...
C**N
livraison rapide
cd conforme en bon etat
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