Jherek Bischoff has been in, or worked with, a lot of very ‘happening’ bands. The Dead Science, Xiu Xiu, Parenthetical Girls, Deerhoof, Perfume Genius; all in all, pretty diverse, but linked by one, particularly flavoursome common thread – bringing pop sensibilities to either very harsh or quite unfashionable music. Parenthetical Girls’ ‘Entanglements’ came ten years after the baroque revival spearheaded by the likes of Belle & Sebastian and… well, Tori Amos, yet seemed so up-to-date and fashionable it’s almost as if it wasn’t an album of Scott Walker-esque orchestral pieces with lead singer Zac Pennington doing a damn good Morrissey impression over the top.
No surprise, then, that Jherek Bischoff’s upcoming LP, featuring Talking Head’s leader David Byrne and the aforementioned Mr. Pennington amongst others (and named ‘Composed’), sets out to do very much the same. The first single, a double A-side specially released for annual best day of the year every year without exceptions Record Store Day, resulted in this rather lovely track, a swooning march featuring the now obsessively referenced Zac Pennington which paired layers upon layers of strings and brass and a melody so catchy I actually hummed it until the roof of my mouth gave way (reconstructive surgery is expensive yo).
Now we’ve been gifted with a rather fancy trailer for the album as a whole, showcasing the fact that the rest of the record seems very much the same; Bischoff’s usage of strings and choice of collaborators gives the project (well, the ten second clips I’ve heard) a brilliantly refined feel, appealing immediately to the indie pop kids who thought Tigermilk’s strings were a bit too tame, and refreshing to anyone bored of oh-so-fashionable faux minimalism. So – go on – I like those four chords and those next-level post-dubstep beats as much as the next wannabe music hack (swag, trill, #TYBG, etc), but maybe it’s time to try something different. Go on, let yourself feel fabulous.
Discover Jherek Bischoff: Myspace // Bandcamp // Official Website
Oliver Grey
Dance Yrself Clean
