It’s always been a bit difficult to define where Simian Mobile Disco fit into the grand scheme of dance music. Originally
a DJing off-shoot of the band Simian, the duo of James Ford and Jas Shaw were
lumped under the ‘nu-rave’ banner as they rose to prominence with remixing,
producing and performing. The tag seemed to stick and to a certain extent SMD
seemed pretty accepting of the projected association. Ford produced the Klaxon’s debut record. And furthermore, the
duo’s own first album was all about big rave-indebted
electro hooks and guest vocals, the latter a quality that would dominate their
second album ‘Temporary Pleasure’, in which every other track was offered guest
vocalists. The resulting albums were patchy at best, marred by a deluge of
material that failed to live up to expectations. Yet amongst this mediocrity were hints of
greatness, tracks like Sleep Deprivation and their blistering live shows that
increasingly sidestepped the glossiness of their records for something rawer
and harder, suggesting that we hadn’t seen the real SMD emerge yet.
That all changed in 2010, with the announcement that Ford
and Shaw were floating their own record label ‘Delicacies’ and that for one
year they would only be releasing 12”s on this label. Oh yeah, and it was all
going to be techno. No vocalists. No sugary
sweet melodies. Just stripped back, Detroit-indebted 4/4. And it worked, their no frills approach added
a legitimacy and signature sound that their previous endeavours
had only alluded toward. The duo, having offered glimpses of it throughout
their early material, had arrived at their sound.
‘Unpatterns’, their first studio album in three years, picks
up where Delicacies left off. Not that it’s a techno album per se (although
it has spurts of techno). But the record’s ethos, confidence and presentation
of style are more comparable to their 2010 period than any other SMD material
you may have heard. Album opener I Waited For You instantly establishes
proceedings. A cacophony of naked techy blips take centre stage, as a
simplistic soulful vocal sample slowly fades in and around an emerging
synthline. A firm and distinct palette of juxtaposed elements, an idiosyncrasy that
runs through the album like an invisible thread, comprises the a surprisingly sprawling
tone and range: a soft melodic core wrapped in a hardened exterior of techno-inspired
production.
Early track Cerulean take this approach of off-kilter juxtaposed production elements to incredible results. Sounding like something you
would perhaps expect to hear on Border
Community, the track’s kick-drums and rattling percussion slip in and out
of a boldly simplistic analogue synth melody that becomes a little more
dizzying each time it changes up key. A piece of analogue minimal wonder, its
simplicity makes for its beauty and wonder. And whilst I said earlier that
this isn’t a techno album, there is plenty of techno here. Mid-album number The Dream Of The Fisherman's Wife blends the type of low-fi bassline that’s
doing the rounds with whirring, altered synths lines, making for a track that
sound warm and engaging, yet remaining removed and cold at the same time. A
Species Out Of Control similarly works on this premise, employing a crunching bass and
oscillating analogue synthline.
On the whole though, Unpatterns is not as hard as the
techno the duo had been exhibiting previously. Forthcoming single Your Love
Ain't Fair offers a Chicago-house style vocal sample around some minimal
percussion and soft pads, of the ilk you might imagine to hear on a Hotflush
12”. Put Your Hands Together offers a similar approach, utilising a vocal
sample (of Jamie Lidell, no less) in a
purely instrumental fashion – if you didn’t know the title of the track you
wouldn’t have a chance of understanding what is being sung, the vocal
indecipherable from the other production elements. Here, we find a complete
reversal of the problems that once beseeched SMD: where once vocal contributions
overshadowed proceedings, forcing SMD into the background, it is now the other
way around.
Simian Mobile Disco have with Unpatterns produced an album
that at long last is going to dispel any myths about their integrity or
artistic vision. As much a manifesto of their intent in making SMD about themselves rather than any potential
audience, movement or collaboration, ‘Unpatterns’ offers what previous attempts
have lacked: a deeply satisfying album experience that succeeds in realising
its ambitious width of scope and sound. If you needed any more evidence that
SMD’s prominence in the dance music elite was deserved, then this is it.