(Skipp/Sonig)

US-based composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Nathan Michel has previously released two albums of quirky experimental electronic pop through Kid606’s Tigerbeat6 label, (2002’s ‘abc def’ and 2003’s ‘Dear Bicycle’) and this latest third album from Michel, the rather deceptively-titled ‘The Beast’, a joint release through both the Skipp and Sonig labels, ventures away from the more overt electronics of these two previous releases, leaning further towards lush organic instrumental textures. As part of this new musical approach, the production sessions for ‘The Beast’ saw Michel play all of the instruments on the record himself – guitars, piano, drums, marimba, vocals and melodica, whilst also enlisting the vocal skills of Amber Papini, who appears on two tracks here.

Opening track ‘Dust’ kicks things off in a style that comes across similar to a collision between Stereolab’s lush xylophone-laden pop exotica and Prefuse 73’s asymmetrical, stuttering cut-and-paste beats, dry-sounding snares cracking beneath gentle guitars, pianos and Michel’s own sweet vocal harmonies, before ‘Planet’ emerges from airy flutes and childlike marimba tones into a jaunty, bouncing horn-laden piece of stuttery, hyper-edited mutant pop, the entire speeding up and down, and shuffling back and forth erratically like some treacherous re-edit of Architecture In Helsinki’s playful melodic experiments. Title track ‘The Beast’ gets more brooding and atmospheric, with an extended voyage down amidst ringing, bell-like xylophones and howling treated guitars eventually emerging out into the daylight of gently-plucked acoustic guitars and soft clicking beats, Michel’s gentle vocal tones gliding effortlessly over the warm instrumental textures, while ‘A to B’ sees Amber Papini contribute her sweet vocal tones to Michel’s against an oddly-childlike sounding backdrop of thumping drums, squawking electric wah guitar and tinkling washes of metallic percussion and xylophones.

‘RAM’ wanders intriguingly through clicking electronic rhythms, while tinkling xylophone runs glide around snatches of dubbed-out country-fied sounding blues guitar and harmonica, leading into ‘Status Dive, which emerges from trails of elegant piano notes and wafting, soft-focus synth tones into a melodic refrain that’s part film musical and part Carpenters-esque lush ballad, some unpredictable glitchy digital edits and chaotic buzzing electronics fraying away the very edges of the strummed guitars and breezy vocals. ‘Suds’ kicks up the pace a bit, with clicking metronomic drum-machine beats tracing a path against gentle flutes and pianos, some spiky-sounding distorted guitar fuzz nicely offsetting the jaunty melodic tones and Michel’s floaty vocals as the entire track gets pushed through all manner of stuttering digital hyper-edits and processing, before ‘Cricket’ takes this album to a close with one of its most gossamer-smooth moments, Amber Papini’s vocals smoothly merging with Michel’s harmonies as they glide over a lush downtempo backing of dry-sounding beats, jazz-tinged piano runs and Herbie Hancock-esque clavinet flourishes before things finally trail off.

‘The Beast’ is an excellent third album from Nathan Michel that shows him adeptly incorporating a more ‘organic, instrumental’ pallette into his productions, and while he’s removed most of the more overt traces of electronics present on his first two Tigerbeat6 releases, he’s still pushing the instrumental performances here through a glitch-ridden and frequently head-spinning digital filter that places much of this material in territory similar to Max Tundra and DAT Politics’ playful skewed electronic pop. Throughout the ten tracks presented here, Michel also draws upon a broad range of musical influences, ranging from glitchy IDM right through to French Chanson, bluegrass harmonica, sixties pop exotica and film noir, all the while fusing these disparate styles seamlessly and creating an intriguing hybrid of sounds that’s both fresh and unpredictable. Fans of the likes of Architecture In Helsinki and Stereolab’s mutant pop-exotica should definitely investigate ‘The Beast’.

Check out http://www.nathanmichel.com, http://www.ski-pp.com and http://www.sonig.com.