Field Mouse / The Japanese War Effort - Split Cassette

Posted in SHOFT on Thursday 22nd December 2011 at 8:12am

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For the second time in less than a month I find myself reviewing a cassette release, which as I look back on 2011 is something I didn't expect to find myself saying. As this recent revival of the retro format continues, I find echoes of my own past - not least in the inventive packaging and the attempts to elevate this once ubiquitous format into an artefact. Untying the golden thread and unravelling the heavy paper sleeve featuring truly beautiful and wintry art, reveals a bright blue professionally dubbed cassette with inserts allowing access to secret songs and featuring snippets of information to peruse while you listen. This sense of experience makes the purchase of music so much more exciting than just clicking and waiting for the download to complete, and takes me right back to the thrill of ordering unknown music and the anxious wait for the postman. The debate about how relevant and useful cassettes are in the 21st century will rumble on I'm sure, but it's absolutely important not to let this overshadow the contents of the media - which in this case is magnetic in every sense of the word.

Once again this is a Gerry Loves Records release, and this time around it's a split between Field Mouse and The Japanese War Effort both of which have previously graced these pages. Despite not being a first mention here, Jay Kural - the driving force behind Field Mouse - remains a rather mysterious and reclusive character. His side of this split tape is ushered in by a shuffling of insistent synthetic beats and a cavalcade of glockenspiel sounds on "Toy". Later in the track, the strange chittering laughter of children is part fitting, and part rather creepy. From the outset though, it's clear that Field Mouse have pulled an ace in terms of making machine-manufactured music sound organic and yet still mechanically hypnotic, and this is in no small part due to the way that analogue instruments and sounds are threaded through the electronics. "Cloth Pattern" sees a rare intrusion of vocals, courtesy in this case of Conquering Animal Sound's Anneke Kampman. Fractured beats, an undertow of melodic bass and shards of spine-tingling, glassy noise weave a curiously warm atmosphere, while Anneke half sings and half raps her vocal. In common with Conquering Animal Sound, Jay Kural's work at the edge of the human-machine interface is compelling and unusually personal - and while this music is satisfying and engaging in it's own terms, the inclusion of vocals brings a new depth. There are more vocal moments too, as Yahweh, otherwise known as Lewis Cook, guests on "Lonely Her" providing a tumble of uncharacteristically euphoric vocals to top a skittering, sampled harpsichord melody with a sinuous chorus. As he promises faithfully to write lyrics for the track, Cook self-deprecatingly suggests "I'll meaninglessly self-disect" as his upbeat delivery belies a darker edge. Finally "Slowflow" is as gorgeously unctuous and blissed-out as its title implies. A ululating bassline, eerie samples and a liquid cascade of sounds brings this side of the tape to a close, with the formerly commonplace task of having to walk to the tape-deck to flip the cassette over now an odd novelty.

Field Mouse - Lonely Her

With the tape turned over and the reassuring hiss shivering the speakers The Japanese War Effort side shimmers in with a drone of electronic noise and a throb of bass. "Everlasting Sun" kicks off with psuedo-religious, hymn-like qualities before Jamie Scott returns us to earth with a line about "steaming cups of tea". As the track builds through a series of layered, blaring organ sounds it's hard not to get carried away on it's strange, giddy optimism. I remember hearing "Dream of a New Labour" appear on the web earlier in the year, and it's succinct observations on the gradual slide of the British left into comfortable, middle-aged conservatism is set alongside a queasy, warped musical backdrop. Scott just about nails the uncomfortable truth about modern British culture when he intones "the moment becomes the monument" - there's a government-funded research project just waiting to escape from that statement already. Jamie remains in a reflective mood on "Our Land Could Be Your Life" as he explores post-industrial Rutherglen in a surprisingly straightforward and tender song, with a minimal pulse of a tune burbling away underneath. This tendency towards the personal and political feels like a distinct shift from the comparatively playful "Surrender to Summer" EP which arrived earlier in the year, but it's not an unwelcome one as Scott's swipes at bankers and fallen politicians are gentler, cleverly observed and far wittier than most in an era of otherwise pretty ham-fisted attempts at protest singing. Finally the mood is lifted out of reverie by the gently insistent, upbeat "Daddy Says" with it's almost choral closing refrain of "squint at the sun". I continue to find myself surprised and amazed by The Japanese War Effort in the strange ability to turn a style of music which I've previously found fairly disengaging and perhaps even confusing, into something vital and personal.

The Japanese War Effort - Our Land Could Be Your Life

Wherever you stand in the debate, the cassette feels like just about the perfect way to deliver both The Japanese War Effort and Field Mouse, with their shared love of analogue clicks, pops and glitches, washes of water-colour electronica and warped retro beats. Taken alongside the beautiful packaging there is a sense of a masterpiece in DIY miniature here, and a real feeling of craftsmanship and industry. Both sides feature sometimes slightly downbeat, but mesmerizing soundtracks to what promises to be a rather gloomy winter, with just the hint of humour and warmth necessary to make it all worthwhile. If you're going to treat yourself to a Christmas present which has the potential to last beyond the empty bottles and discarded carcasses of the festive season, you could do far, far worse than investing in this cassette.

The split tape can be purchased from Gerry Loves Records for £5, complete with a digital download of all of the tracks and more for the casette-challenged. The label is also offering a two-for-one deal with their split 12" also featuring The Japanese War Effort for just £10.