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Recommended by us on 8th December 2006
...according to our Clinton on Fri 08 Dec, 2006.
What can I say. Big Eyes are a great band. If you have never listened to them before I suggest you do so immediately. They are the musical equivalent of eating a lemon meringue pie. Sweet, fluffy and a bit tart. They make utterly gorgeous instrumental music with acoustic guitars, accordian, violin and harmonium. They always sound a bit Spanish. Anyway here we have their new album on Pickled Egg and it sounds utterly captivating on first listen. I can't think who to compare them to - I always think of a Spanish Rachel's...but from the Leeds/Sheffield district. Big Eyes first full-length offering takes a darker direction than the debut mini album, 'Big Eyes Songs', treading a peculiar path through modern classical, eastern European traditional music, surf-sleaze, country, noise, experimentation and folk.
"This is a wonderful album, running down a path of great beauty" [Steve Hanson, Ptolemaic Terrascope].
"Clumsy music? This is anything but. In a complete reversal of the titular accuracy of Big Eyes Songs, Clumsy Music deceives to flatter. James Green, the Big Eye, reckons that Clumsy Music is more grown-up than Big Eyes Songs which was naively short and sweet. Does that mean we should expect cynically long and sour? It's certainly longer - about twice - but the basic template is the same; to take the very essence of a tune, the heart of the hook, wrap it in the merest wisps of gentle music and set it free on the breeze from your speakers. Green brings classical instruments and unusual arrangements to pop music, with the spirit early Wire had (innovation, minimalism) but without all that shouting. 'The Chattering Lady' is slow gypsy folk, 'Samba Sedation' more of a lazy brass seduction and 'Don’t Be Shy' a weird fleeting nightmare that could be The Black Swan Network. Just as a book of short stories never quite sates the reader's curiosity, so 'Clumsy Music' leaves the listener wanting more, unsatisfied by the teasing beauty of the tunes. That's not clumsy, that's a great skill" [Jimmy Possession, Robots & Electronic Brains]
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Norman Records,
Unit 20, Croydon House,
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