Back in the day when the calendar had just flipped over to all-zeroes, English electro duo Magnétophone were inked by 4AD, and marked their arrival on such a carefully-tasteful label with a debut disc dubbed I Guess Sometimes I Need to Be Reminded of How Much You Love Me. Sadly, the gear's sweethearted title proved the most memorable thing about it. Magnétophone had obviously been swept along, into Ivo's arms, on the waves of adulation that were surging about, at the time, at the feet of Boards of Canada, the electro pair whose musical-equivalent-of-nostalgic-home-Super-8-movies-with-decaying-emulsion has cultivated an incredibly cult-like fanbase. Magnétophone floated about in those same murky waters — making instrumentalist mood Muzak that wed the fluster/bluster of the post-MBV Flying Saucer Attack clans to the skipping digital detritus of the day — but, really, no one really cared. Fast forward to these days, where the kids of those days are now all wearing beards, and Magnétophone've returned from five years of obscurity wearing beards of their own. Obviously in possession of at least a two-album deal from 4AD, the duo — Brummie boffins Matt Saunders and John Hanson — have changed tack and tried the crossover tactics, having a crack at better album sales via the very special special-guest guest vocals, which come from Scots folkies King Creosote, HMS Ginafore, and James Yorkston. And, on a couple cuts, instrument-playing appearances appear from PG Six of the Tower Recordings, and the rock-royalty sisterhood Kim and Kelley Deal. Whilst such seem a little like cheap cross-promotional tie-ins, the Magnétophone duo show themselves open to the collaborations. On the longplayer's best bit, the pair follow Yorkston and his concertina into the traditional hymnalism of "I've Been Looking Around Me," coming close to Yorkie's earthy "acoustic music‚" even though their own droning tones come from all manner of hard-wired keyboards. We easily could cynically, cynically say that all that all this represents is Magnétophone floating along on the tides of fashion; but, like, it's stuff nice enough that one should really only say nice enough stuff about it. |
