England / US - California - Full Moon 186 - 11/10/11

Roberts & Lord
Eponymous
Asthmatic Kitty Records

Roberts & Lord's Eponymous is a Transatlantic Myspace baby, with electronic artists Rafter Roberts and Simon Lord collaborating from each side of the Atlantic; American Rafter Roberts (of Rafter) based in San Diego, CA, and London-based Englishman Simon William Lord (also performing/recording as Lord Skywave, he's an ex-Simian, and one of the ghosts in The Black Ghosts). Fun through the airwaves and over the web. WWW sessions.

Eponymous holds 12 playful, whimsical yet focused tracks. Wild and rough stuff, and a rhythmic and melodic laidback feast as well. Imagine Animal Collective being more structured, serving more fixed pop. Not 'pop' in the common/commercial sense, because this is weird, wild and wonderful pop from the adventurous underworld. Roberts & Lord glow with creativity and spontaneity, and the album's got this on-going merry feeling. Expect loose structures, slack beats, odd stories (lyric-wise), and razor sharp tunes.

Eponymous was made with backing music recorded by Roberts to a 4-track tape machine. He then sent the tracks to Lord in the UK, who arranged, added, and recorded vocals plus seasoning and mailed the tracks back. It's said to be done rather rapidly, and the result is rapid indie-electronica-pop done with style. Among my fave tracks: "Bottom of the Bottle", "Mosquito" (which tells the story of a man in love with a mosquito), "Wild Berries", "Windmill", "We Rise, We Fall", "Interior Demon". With the exception of a few fillers this album's a real cool time.

Eponymous is surely inspired by both 60s (Brian Wilson could be name-dropped) and 70s pop. Classic AM rock is another reference. Twisted and turned through cut'n'paste techniques from hip-hop mashed into lo-fi r'n'b, and with the attitude from the 00s to now. This is true feel good music.

Copyright © 2011 Håvard Oppøyen