Cranes - Cranes

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Press release

5...according to our Brian on Thu 09 Oct, 2008.

Never thought I'd ever review a Cranes record. Alison Shaw always totally alarmed me with her childlike vocals, only to be ripped off by Mum 10-15 years later haha! They have a new CD out on Dadaphonic, it's self-titled you know. The overall feel is of twinkling, spectral indie with a gently ethereal vibe but there's little to appeal to the hardcore goths these days. It's got shades of brittle melancholy but the music is quite uplifting. The guitars shimmer whilst the understated electronics and percussion envelope you like the best downtempo sounds do. There's plenty of lovely touches to this album, it's relatively accesible yet layered in such a profound, classy way you're drawn deep into the velveteen textures of the songs. Minimal & atmospheric, some tunes embellished with gentle, refined drums, some percussionless, all led by THAT dreamy baby doll voice. It's a lovely album for any time of the day too, soothing & captivating. Unlike a lot of the stuff on, say, Bella Union, for all it's commercial impact, this still feels like a refreshingly alternative album, beautifully realised & chocka with great songs. Really great to have these old masters back, they ooze quality! Ace.

Long-awaited new studio album by UK indie darlings Cranes, whose creative output has spanned over fifteen years and - with this latest addition - nine studio albums.
* Cranes has been three years in the making. It is a triumph of celestial atmospheric rock and metaphysical minimalist electronics, made instantly recognisable by Alison Shaw’s childlike vocals and Jim Shaw’s uniquely inventive
compositions.
* There are themes of fractals, the mysterious mathematical patterns and shapes that can be found throughout nature and the universe beyond. Lyrics speak of the passing of time, of how cyclical things can be and of wanting to move forward. This is all woven into compositions that take in everything from krautrock and folk, to intricate, almost extra-terrestrial soundscapes and David Lynch-esque melodies.
* Stand out tracks include Feathers - a filmic Espers-recalling underwater epic and High and Low’s guitar-led waltz. There’s Panorama’s dark Parisian vocal layering and Wires’ soaring melody textured with Four Tet-like blips.
* The Cranes story began in a garage and a garden in Portsmouth almost two decades ago. There, as teenagers,
sister and brother duo Alison and Jim Shaw would mess around with any old bits of equipment they could get their hands on, experimenting with recordings until their first album "Self Non Self" was complete.
* Fast forward to the present day and the duo that became Cranes can look back at a body of work that split into two distinct eras. The music from the 90s had a peculiar intensity, which seemed incongruous at the time. Their early fans included John Peel, the legendary Joy Division producer Martin Hannett and Robert Smith, who asked them to open for The Cure on many an international tour. They released several albums through Dedicated/BMG - two of which (’Wings Of Joy’ and ’Forever’) have recently been re-issued on Cherry Red due to popular demand. In 1997 came the first stirrings of a new sound and a new Cranes, one which still revolved around the sister-brother axis but left behind the industrial rock element, replacing it with their own compelling version of electronic-based songcraft. The band re-emerged in 2001 on their own Dadaphonic label and went on to release two more acclaimed albums in their new guise - 2001’s Future Songs and 2004’s Particles and Waves.
The new album’s otherworldly tonal beauty will continue to see them existing outside of the mainstream, slightly disconnected but able to offer a very beautiful, one-of-a-kind vision of life in the twenty first century.

Tracklist:

1. Diorama (1.32) 2. Worlds (4.06) 3. Feathers (3.17) 4. Wires (3.41) 5. Panorama (3.17) 6. Wonderful Things (4.15) 7. Collecting Stones (3.11) 8. Invisible (4.02) 9. Move Along (3.53) 10. Sleepwalking (3.05) 11. High and Low (4.06)

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