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HOT PRESS REVIEW - 2nd July 2009
IRISH ELECTRO AMBIENT DUO DO ANALOGUE DEBUT LIVE TO LATE '70s GERMANIC EFFECT.
Return Of The Tiny Magnetic Pets? I hadn’t realised they’d ever been away. They hadn’t. Named after the collectable Japanese toys that kids (and nerdy adults) were going crazy about a few years ago, TMP are new Irish electro-ambient duo Paula Gilmer and Sean Quinn, and this is actually their debut release.
And quite an impressive debut it is, too. Deciding to eschew modern computer technology and work solely within the confines of ‘70s studio equipment, this album was recorded using vintage Moog, Roland and Korg synthesisers, guitars and Vox organ. Even more impressively, apparently the whole thing was recorded live.
Their influences are easily identifiable; it’s no coincidence that Krautrocky opening track ‘Tempelhof’ is named after the old Berlin airport. Think a combination of Bowie’s Low, Gary Numan’s Pleasure Principle and Kraftwerk’s Computer World, only with female vocals throughout, and you’ve pretty much got their sound (though none of the above would ever have sampled something as natural sounding as sea surf, as they do here on the excellent ‘A Faraway Sea’).
Having said that, this is an album of songs rather than industrial techno grooves or moody ambient pieces. Gilmer’s breathless vocals range from tender and ethereal to quirkily science fictional, and add a whole new dimension to a familiar sonic palette. There are occasional touches of more modern acts such as Air, Autamata or Stereolab on certain tracks (especially ‘Girl In A White Dress’), but TMP are more than mere imitators.
All told, a most welcome return from a new Irish act who’ll definitely be going places.
OLAF TYARANSEN
KEY TRACK: ‘SPINNING’
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http://www.textura.org/..reviews/tinymagneticpets.htm
TEXTURA.ORG
Tiny Magnetic Pets: Return of the Tiny Magnetic Pets
Psychonavigation
If ‘80s-styled synth-pop featuring serenading female vocals is your thing, then you may find Tiny Magnetic Pets worth checking out. The group, which took its name from the collectable Japanese toys, pairs singer and synth player Paula Gilmer with Seán Quinn, late of Electric Penguins. For its debut album, the group opted to work within the limitations of ‘70s studio technology; eschewing computers altogether and recording the music live, Gilmer and Quinn used Moog, Roland and Korg synthesizers, Mellotron, organ, bass, guitars, and drum machines to create the songs' instrumental sounds. What's behind the urge to travel back two decades? A longing for a simpler time at least partially explains it—“emotional time travel,” as it's described here, with “Girl in a White Dress” in particular evidencing the desire for a more carefree time.
Bowie (circa Low) Gary Numan, and Kraftwerk are name-checked as reference points but Tiny Magnetic Pets' poppy, radio-friendly sound has more in common with a band such as Lali Puna (the vocal approach in “Spaced,” for example, is vintage Lali Puna). The group also sounds much like Siouxsie & the Banshees during the verses in “Control Me” and Goldfrapp during its choruses. Interestingly, the opening melody in “Cosmodrome” borrows from “Over the Rainbow.” Regardless, it's not hard to imagine the frothy synth-pop of “Girl in a White Dress” spilling out of car radios across the land, and the swooning melody in the chorus of “I Wasn't Here” suggests strong single potential too. In addition, “Spinning” drapes confessional lyrics about turmoil and confusion and breathy vocals over a humming chorus and pulsating cloud of keyboard patterns, and Gilmer's voice is especially pretty during the dreamy ballad “A Faraway Sea.” Throughout the dozen songs, analog synthesizers jubilantly squeal and sing amidst the rickety thrust of ‘70s drum machines (James Byrne's acoustic drumming gives three songs some welcome heft) and Gilmer's humanizing voice. It's not a perfect album—silly lyrics prove the undoing of the otherwise decent “Boom Boom Boom”—but more often than not Return of The Tiny Magnetic Pets provides a pleasurable forty-three-minute listen.
July 2009
IRISH ELECTRO AMBIENT DUO DO ANALOGUE DEBUT LIVE TO LATE '70s GERMANIC EFFECT.
Return Of The Tiny Magnetic Pets? I hadn’t realised they’d ever been away. They hadn’t. Named after the collectable Japanese toys that kids (and nerdy adults) were going crazy about a few years ago, TMP are new Irish electro-ambient duo Paula Gilmer and Sean Quinn, and this is actually their debut release.
And quite an impressive debut it is, too. Deciding to eschew modern computer technology and work solely within the confines of ‘70s studio equipment, this album was recorded using vintage Moog, Roland and Korg synthesisers, guitars and Vox organ. Even more impressively, apparently the whole thing was recorded live.
Their influences are easily identifiable; it’s no coincidence that Krautrocky opening track ‘Tempelhof’ is named after the old Berlin airport. Think a combination of Bowie’s Low, Gary Numan’s Pleasure Principle and Kraftwerk’s Computer World, only with female vocals throughout, and you’ve pretty much got their sound (though none of the above would ever have sampled something as natural sounding as sea surf, as they do here on the excellent ‘A Faraway Sea’).
Having said that, this is an album of songs rather than industrial techno grooves or moody ambient pieces. Gilmer’s breathless vocals range from tender and ethereal to quirkily science fictional, and add a whole new dimension to a familiar sonic palette. There are occasional touches of more modern acts such as Air, Autamata or Stereolab on certain tracks (especially ‘Girl In A White Dress’), but TMP are more than mere imitators.
All told, a most welcome return from a new Irish act who’ll definitely be going places.
OLAF TYARANSEN
KEY TRACK: ‘SPINNING’
----------------------------
http://www.textura.org/..reviews/tinymagneticpets.htm
TEXTURA.ORG
Tiny Magnetic Pets: Return of the Tiny Magnetic Pets
Psychonavigation
If ‘80s-styled synth-pop featuring serenading female vocals is your thing, then you may find Tiny Magnetic Pets worth checking out. The group, which took its name from the collectable Japanese toys, pairs singer and synth player Paula Gilmer with Seán Quinn, late of Electric Penguins. For its debut album, the group opted to work within the limitations of ‘70s studio technology; eschewing computers altogether and recording the music live, Gilmer and Quinn used Moog, Roland and Korg synthesizers, Mellotron, organ, bass, guitars, and drum machines to create the songs' instrumental sounds. What's behind the urge to travel back two decades? A longing for a simpler time at least partially explains it—“emotional time travel,” as it's described here, with “Girl in a White Dress” in particular evidencing the desire for a more carefree time.
Bowie (circa Low) Gary Numan, and Kraftwerk are name-checked as reference points but Tiny Magnetic Pets' poppy, radio-friendly sound has more in common with a band such as Lali Puna (the vocal approach in “Spaced,” for example, is vintage Lali Puna). The group also sounds much like Siouxsie & the Banshees during the verses in “Control Me” and Goldfrapp during its choruses. Interestingly, the opening melody in “Cosmodrome” borrows from “Over the Rainbow.” Regardless, it's not hard to imagine the frothy synth-pop of “Girl in a White Dress” spilling out of car radios across the land, and the swooning melody in the chorus of “I Wasn't Here” suggests strong single potential too. In addition, “Spinning” drapes confessional lyrics about turmoil and confusion and breathy vocals over a humming chorus and pulsating cloud of keyboard patterns, and Gilmer's voice is especially pretty during the dreamy ballad “A Faraway Sea.” Throughout the dozen songs, analog synthesizers jubilantly squeal and sing amidst the rickety thrust of ‘70s drum machines (James Byrne's acoustic drumming gives three songs some welcome heft) and Gilmer's humanizing voice. It's not a perfect album—silly lyrics prove the undoing of the otherwise decent “Boom Boom Boom”—but more often than not Return of The Tiny Magnetic Pets provides a pleasurable forty-three-minute listen.
July 2009
