Airick Woodhead, the man behind Doldrums, is a video artist as well as a musician, and this EP has the feel of something that has been edited in the way a film might, with enough splicing and mashing to blunt a razorblade.
The opening few seconds of ‘Egypt’ sound like something that made you hide behind the couch as a kid when Doctor Who was on, but then the electro beat starts and all manner of electronic sounds build up around it, within half a minute you realise you’re listening to something quite special. And that’s before Woodhead’s almost Bjork-like vocal kicks in. Throughout its near eight minutes, freaky sounds arrive like a pack of tornados, spinning samples, primal percussion and otherworldly vocals, leaving the listener dizzy in places – particularly when the vocal is reversed mid-way through.
The EP is reminiscent of Battles, and even verges into Dan Deacon territory in ‘Jump Up’. ‘Copper Girl’ is less mental, more industrial – with hints of Mezzanine-era Massive Attack running throughout. The Montreal-based Doldrums so impressed Portishead last year that they released the band’s cover of ‘Chase the Tear’ as a b-side, and with a full-live band whipping up a storm at SXSW this year, the high hopes for this 12” and download only EP are easily met. The three tracks play well off each other and the production evenly mixes the myriad elements together to create a potent psychedelia for the 21st century.
Egypt is released next week on Souterrain Transmissions
Posted by Kevin Scott
