Static Caravan: The Marble Faun

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With every launch, Leeds sonic circus Static Caravan appear to progress their sound in as dramatic and enigmatic a tempo as a number of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard album cycles. This stays true for The Marble Faun EP. It’s freewheeling art-rock tumble resembles the Julian Casablancas fronted The Voidz, spun on a excessive temperature wash cycle for a extra dynamic, summary, profitable consequence.

An ecclesiastical opener – like approaching Heaven’s doorways however being swiftly ordered to U-turn by the Ring doorbell – welcomes you into The Marble Faun’s bizarro atmosphere with applicable mystique. This divinity turns into heightened in it’s bizarre exultation by the excellent sounds of twisted pipe organ (an instrument solely accessible to multi-instrumentalist Mia Windsor in uncommon components of West Yorkshire). Fluttering birdsong on this title observe is a becoming parallel to the overarching mangle of discombobulation the components are put by means of – a high quality instance of the intriguing contradictions all through.

Although redolent of the aforementioned Strokes side-project, incessantly catchy subsequent observe Prior Engagement is a lot extra. Extra genuine an utility of discordance. Extra collective power glimmering; the mass of parts coalescing into one mighty stream. Extra fascinating an experiment of vocals; particularly because the elegant backing vocals counter the demonic traces within the modulated fundamental vocals, turning into the flora to it’s fauna.

Typically, this observe – and the whole EP – reaches immensely better literary heights within the lyrics than The Voidz, or most bands, for that matter: “buying and selling the guilt, the previous kingdom rebuilt”, for instance.

Static Caravan contains vocalist/guitarist Jack O’ Connor, Tom Owen on guitars, drummer Tom Carroll, Matt Purbrick on bass, and Mia Windsor on keys, vocals and pipe organ. The five-piece have been closely gigging round Leeds and past since 2019; they recorded the EP over 14 months in bedrooms, residing rooms and kitchens, after which the fabric was transmogrified by means of +350 Ableton tracks and resynthesis algorithms. A profound sense of symbiosis between band members runs throughout The Marble Faun as a lot because the erratic sensation from such a Frankenstein of creation provides an incredible, distinctive id. Nevertheless, the chaotically mesmeric flood of complicated components additionally signifies that a number of the aforementioned lyrical genius will get drowned.

An important power of The Marble Faun (and the band general) lies in how their layered strands of vocals, synths, pipe organ, samples, and extra merge right into a unified conglomerate of noise. With this, the mellower, instrumental passages – of which there are numerous efficient examples – are a vital, uplifting distinction; a distinction which means the EP avoids the notion of being overcrowded. Penultimate oozing art-rock funnel Sparkly Deathtrap marries these dichotomies completely. The observe’s clangorous physique peters out like an insipid tributary into an ocean, fuzzy electronics illuminating the ultimate emotive ebbs with panache. The percussion on the identical observe is of equally excessive, enigmatic high quality. It’s quasi-organic snap makes beforehand electrifying hand claps of the rock canon out of date.

As yet one more pleasing reverse to the EP’s exhaustive style motion, grand finale I’m a Huge Winner is a transferring, elegiac, violin-toting monolith. It distinguishes itself not solely from their complete discography, but additionally another band in Leeds (and additional afield): mellifluous electronics give solution to unclassifiable vocals, mixing spoken phrase whispering and sung types. All components, regarding the EP too, work collectively like an autumnal tide, waves of repetition sending the melancholy additional nonetheless.

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Overview by James Kilkenny. See his Louder than Battle archive right here.