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Save for such iconic sisters as Tujiko Noriko, Björk, and
Barbara Morgenstern, few records in recent days have married
abstract-electro complexity with melancholy pop-song form as well as
Dntel's Life Is Full of Possibilities, the first real
proper-type album for L.A.-based electro-cat Jimmy Tamborello. Even
if he took the wuss's way out and invited a whole bunch of guest
vocalists (Rachel Haden, Mia Doi Todd, Chris Gunst) on board, it's
still commendable that Tamborello felt brave enough to break free
from the ranks of pedagogic geekophiles who hold abstract-electronic
music in a no-emotion/no-fun grip. Pulled as the second single from
the record, "(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan" unfolds out to EP
length on its own, and serves up a bunch of B-sides of dazzling
quality. Normally, remixes on single versions are tacked-on
release-padders, usually done strictly for the bucks. But here, the
right folk have been brought in to rework the title cut, itself a
melancholy moment in which distorted click-house beats shroud the
particularly sad, nostalgic, verbose lyrics/vocals of Death Cab for
Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard. First, Bay Area soft-tech cutiepie Safety
Scissors — perhaps Dntel's closest musical comparison —
brings a more playful, light touch to proceedings, bringing the beats
back to a softer, more circumspect level as his guest vocalist,
Erlend Øye of rainy-day new-Simon-&-Garfunkel Norwegian
acoustic-croon duo Kings of Convenience, is pushed to the fore.
Morgenstern herself shows up and turns the tune into a duet,
unveiling her caressing flutters of analog organ and bit-crushed
beats as she warbles her own vocals before, in, around, and after
Gibbard's original oral delivery. Another soft-lectro-pop favorite,
Valerie Trebeljahr's burble/harmony outing Lali Puna, turns up and
tunes out the vocals, concentrating, instead, on gurgling analog
synth lines and babbling beats. Kompakt recording artist
Superpitcher takes the minimal-techno head-nodder club-pop tack,
ensconcing the track's vocals in a clicked-out rhythm. And, finally,
Dntel himself lets out a contemplative, organ-draped skitter-beat
B-side, "Your Hill," in which he finds the time to get behind the mic
himself and murmur in most pillowhaired fashion.
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