Halfset: Dramanalog
Elusive Recordings

Though previous releases in the Elusive catalogue may accord with the Irish imprint's penchant for organic melodic electronica, it takes mere seconds for its fifth release, Dramanalog by Halfset (electronic duo Stephen Shannon and Jeff Martin), to broaden the template, specifically with bright banjo picking and mandolin chords that transform “Come On Citron!” into a jamboree session of sunny electronic-folk. During the eleven songs' forty-eight minutes, the group indulges in melodic electronica (the sunny sparkler “I Can”) but also folktronica (“The Abbatoir”) and post-rock (“Marks Tune,” “Tigare (French Tiger)”) and takes occasional detours into jazz and ambient. Enhancing that stylistic range is a rich sonic mix with electronics supplemented by drums, melodica, Rhodes piano, trumpet, glockenspiel, and guitar.

Along the way, shifts in instrumentation and style maintain interest. While guitar-driven hiccup-funk beats give “Solar” a heavier feel, a trumpet spotlight by Bill Blackmore adds jazz flavour. On the one hand, there's a quieter piece like “Lonesome,” a lovely meditation guided by a curling guitar line, while on the other there's the psychedelicized “Laptop Dancer” with its willowy voice samples and aggressive rhythms. Conflating folktronica, post-rock, and electronica into a single song, “Electrolooks” revisits the ‘60s with its organ flourishes, but the song eventually transforms into a pulsating analog bruiser with its sonic mass extended by banjo and glockenspiel. Only the dreamy “Riversong” disappoints with a winsome vocal style and melancholy feel that evoke Styrofoam too vividly. Dramanalog might remind some listeners of State River Widening's Cottonhead and, while there are similarities in the groups' acoustic-electronic styles, Halfset seems more unassuming by comparison and its material less ambitious by design; it is, however, refreshing to encounter music so free of exaggerated grandiosity.

August 2005