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(NO Records/Inertia)
Sydney-based six-piece band Decoder Ring experienced a massive leap in terms of their public profile last year as a result of their acclaimed musical score for Cate Shortland’s movie ‘Somersault’, which received plaudits from all around the world, including a standing ovation at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. While Decoder Ring’s earlier releases such as 2002’s ‘Spooky Action At A Distance’ EP and their debut self-titled album showed the six-piece outfit blending analogue synths with indie-rock guitars to create a streamlined electro-rock fusion, the ‘Somersault’ score showed the band’s already filmic sound stretching out into even more lush and ambient territory. In the wake of the band winning the coveted AFI award for the ‘Somersault’ score and also working on the score to Tony Krawitz’s film ‘Jewboy’, the second album proper from Decoder Ring ‘Fractions’ shows the band’s sound taking on even more lush textural qualities informed by ambient electronics, krautrock and shoegazer rock, with the increasing expansiveness of their sound a quality definitely informed by their soundtrack work.
Opening track ‘Jets’ starts things on a gliding indie-pop trajectory, with colourful jangling guitar chords that call to mind early period New Order or Galaxie 500 rippling their way over phasing New Wave synths and clattering live drums as vocal Lenka’s (who joined the band circa ‘Somersault’ is now a firmly-installed full-time band member) delicate breathy intonations slide over the synthetic-edged rhythms in some mid-point between Broadcast’s Trish Keenan and Slowdive. ‘Serac’ takes things down into glacial instrumental beauty that calls to mind ‘Somersault’s ambient orchestral wash, with melancholy stretched-out cello chords making their way effortlessly over an icily precise backing of slow drum loops and twinkling synths, before ‘Escape Pod’ locks things down into clicking electro-house rhythms, some choppy delayed guitar riffs that carry a hint of The Edge circa ‘Unforgettable Fire’ spiralling around the beats as things suddenly drop down into a delicate yet sinister breakdown of eerie chiming tones and looming bass.
‘Traffic’ features Art Of Fighting’s Ollie Browne on vocals, his world-weary sounding tones floating through a backdrop of gently plucked acoustic guitars and delayed-out fretboard howls that call to mind ‘Bends’-era Radiohead, ambient synth drones lurking just slightly out of view as the guitars swell up beneath Browne’s epic chorus, while the downright sinister ‘451’ places a punk-funk bassline below some dark electro synths that carry more than a hint of EBM-industrial stomp, the buzzing arpeggios accelerating towards the redline as snare buildups and dark distorted guitars scream their way through the mix. ‘To Die’ reintroduces Lenka’s rich multitracked vocal harmonies over a swooning backdrop of sweeping orchestral textures, jangling indie guitar riffs and live drums in a moment that recalls mid-nineties 4AD act Lush’s widescreen pop, before closing title track ‘Fractions’ takes things out on a shimmering electro-pop tangent, jangling guitar chords intertwining themselves around distorted rock riffs and some oddly disco-tinged synth sequences as Lenka’s breathy tones glide effortlessly over the complex rhythms below.
A stunning second album from Decoder Ring that shows the six-piece outfit continuing to shift their music towards a more lush expansive and flowing incarnation that carries hints of the mechanistic rhythms of Krautrock acts such as Can and Neu! as much as it does soft-focus echoes of the early / mid-nineties ‘shoegazer’ sound typified by the likes of Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and the 4AD label roster. If you were captivated by the deep sensous blend of sonic textures and eerie-yet-beautiful female vocals Decoder Ring brought to bear on their work for the ‘Somersault’ score, ‘Fractions’ promises to take you on a seriously engrossing journey with plenty of emotionally poignant crescendos along the way. One of the best releases I’ve heard this year, easy.
Check out http://www.decoderring.com.au.
