Cock And Swan - Stash (CD)

Cock and Swan. Never a good combination except for when these two get together. I don't know who is who but there's a boy (the cock i presume) and a girl (the swan?) and they are both from Washington DC. Anyway together they create a lovely mid fidelity slightly clanky brew of drifting melodies and sighing vocals. Sweet as a nut. It combines all those groups you know and love, a bit of Boards of Canada here, a slice of Broadcast there. Opener 'Sneak Close' sounds like the kind of gorgeous folky soft focus clatter produced by the much missed Havergal. They throw everything into the mix  - Can like skittery drums, picked nylon acoustic guitars, clarinets all topped off with swoonsome vocals.  Track 6 'Tectonic Plates' is an absolute highlight with a toy box rhythm weird dubby effects, this could be a cuter more clear cut Peaking Lights at work. The production throughout is really inventive, I'm reminded of Thee More Shallows second album 'More Deep Cuts' in that it has a consistent clarity though they sound nothing like them. In fact you hear lots of influence in here but no real easy comparison, the best I can come up with is Blonde Redhead as produced by Beck. Impressive stuff.