Redjetson - The Unravelling/Racing In The Mire (Try Harder)
UK release date: 16 April 2007
Going by what I'd heard from my ivory lair, I was expecting, in Redjetson, a bunch of chaotic instrumentalists to assault me with noise till my ears bled, but what we actually get is a bit of poised orchestral post-rock joined to some singing that points them out as rather nice, if dreary, guys.
Redjetson have been lumped together with the usual noisenik suspects, the likes of ˇForward, Russia!, 65 Days of Static and iLiKETRAiNS, and admittedly this particular grouping of bands has never really done it for me, lacking as they do a bit of the devil of obvious heroes like Mogwai and not getting close to the inspiration of bands of the Go-Betweens and Velvets' lineage.
They all seem a little too prone to "balladic" impulse rather than visceral inspiration, and the way both The Unravelling and Racing in the Mire here merge ultra-refined soundscapes and soppy balladry again leaves me calling out for more of the cataclysmic stuff that lurks somewhere underneath, the stuff you can find a lot more easily beating away in the raw emotional sounds of upstarts like Stray Borders and Seal Cub Clubbing Club. A prosaic sheen has fallen over the jagged gem, and you just want someone to get it out of the way.
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