ALEC K. REDFEARN AND THE EYESORES

Alec K Redfearn & The Eyesores have been around for nearly 2 decades having started in the late 90's. This seventh album released in 2012 is among their best. They've consistently released interesting acid avant folky albums focused on Alec's heavily processed accordion. The core of the band has included Matt McClaren on cymbal-less drums and Ann Achattle on french horn since 2003, with Chris Sadlers on upright double bass and Orion Rigel Dommisse on organ and vocals joining from 2007. This stable line-up has allowed the Eyesores to hone their sound and produce shorty, catch songs which retain their 'weirdness' without losing their focus. Favorite songs on the album include Fire Shuffle and The Seven and Six but the album should really be listened to as a whole. Well worth exploring for anyone interested in 'different' and 'difficult' music that retains a catchy pop feel. Highly recommend.

Six years on from 'Sister Death', and Redfearn is back with his latest album with The Eyesores. Just one look at the line-up lets know that this is quite a different approach to many. Here we have Alec K. Redfearn (electrified accordion, vocals, Realistic MG-1, loops, ceremonial bell, combo organ), Ann Schattle (French horn), Christopher Sadlers (contrabass, loops, vocals) and Matt McLaren (drums, cymbals, riq, maracas, frikywa, giraffe bells, ring of edges). It comes across as Zappa playing RIO, mixing Art Zoyd with Krautrock to make music which is both intensely challenging and ( to me) incredibly compelling. The use of an accordion as often the main lead instrument, and the horn providing back-up melody, is both different but somehow totally natural.

This is a much stripped down version of the band that appeared on the last album, as not only is the core band much smaller but there are also no guests. I was rather surprised to see Orion Rigel Dommisse is no longer involved, given how important her vocals were to that release, but version appears far more focussed and edgy, while somehow managing to maintain accessibility as they continue to push boundaries. Very solid and intriguing indeed.

This is the seventh album from Alec and his band, who have been purveying their rather unique style of alternative music for more than ten years now. The music is complex and very different, grounded in his own accordion work, but somehow it is also easy to listen to with its' melodic nod back the era of psychedelia when anything was possible. To say that there is an eclectic mix of instrumentation is something of an understatement as the band deploy stand up bass, accordion, French horn, percussion, doumbek, organ, and electronics, among others. This really is music that refuses to be pigeonholed, with The Velvet Underground, Tom Waits and Frank Zappa just some of the obvious influences. The songs are all very different to each other, so while krautrock may have an effect on one song the next could well be from French café culture

There is no doubt that the discovery of Orion Rigel Dommisse has had a major effect on the band as her high clear vocals provide another facet to the experience, sometimes taking lead or harmonising with Alec her voice is a delight. Sadly, an album that contains this much depth and musical ability will be ignored by much of the mainstream and is unlikely to get the recognition it so richly deserves, especially as it refuses to sit in any particular category. But, if you enjoy 'good music' without worrying about what the label says on the packaging then you need to investigate this further. www.cuneiformrecords.com

I've got to know this ensemble a couple of years ago, while surfing at Cuneiform records website. And now they are on the archives, that's nice. The first impression that one can get from this music, is the refined sung melodies, and the accordion dominant sound and playing by Alec himself. Next, one can discover the other accompanied melodies supplied by an interesting instrumentation that contains acoustic bass, horn, some violins, drums and percussion, and more. This specific album is divided to short songs, many of them got an accordion repeating pattern that makes the song basis. It's got a minimalistic feel, not far from monotonous. However the middle section of the album is a nice twist, the atmosphere and the sound changed a bit to a more percussive background. My favorite songs come from that part toward the end, and include 'the Radiator hymn', 'the Burning hand', 'the Flesh of the drums' and 'Rising'. Female vocals are dominant here compare to the other songs, and the singers Ellen Santaniello, Orion Rigel Dommisse and Laura Gulley create some beautiful vocal lines. Sometimes they make the lead vocals, and sometimes canonize and make counterpoints to lead vocalist Alec Redfearn. Alec voice is less qualified than the female vocalists, and quite noodling and monotonous in my opinion. In fact he is more of a song-presenter than a true vocalist.

Another thing very worth mentioning is the excellent electronic work made by Frank Difficult, using various devices and electronic loops. There is a very good balance between the songs, and the few electronic passages. The album is ended by such a passage with some ambient sounds, in a hidden track.

In additions to the merits, I'll mention the sound and production, and the very good flow, which provide a true 'album treatment' and a good taste that will remain in your ears long after listening.