We all have different outlets for extreme emotions be they bred in grief, frustration, anxiety or romance for example. For many an artistic avenue is the release from such overwhelming trespasses and so it is with Reverse Family who are about to unleash a daunting but we can already assure you irresistible adventure for ears.
The Reverse Family is the solo project of Dermot Illogical, someone probably better known right now as Andreas Vanderbraindrain, the frontman of British outfit The Tuesday Club. Towards the end of last year, he released acclaimed debut album My Songs About Life Mid Crisis, a collection of multi-flavoured lo-fi experimental goodness which continues to hang around in the imagination and passions like an inescapable itch. It was an introduction which commanded attention and breeds real anticipation for the next epic outing with Reverse Family.
Starting in October, Dermot is releasing 365, a project made up of 52 EPs released as one a week for a whole year. Before panicking, shouting impossible, or mistakenly thinking anything that massive has to be more filler than thriller let us declare that with the evidence of the sampler sent by the man our way in our hands, it is going to be an escapade taking ears and imagination on a helter-skelter of honest and emotionally raw but instinctively fun exploration; a journey given greater intimate potency by Dermot’s diary entry of that particular day by the way of ‘sleeve notes’.
The tracks making up the project were all recorded DIY style at home between Jan 1st 2015 and Dec 31st 2015 with Dermot playing every instrument and sharing every syllable. Everything heard is as played and recorded; no editing or tampering made with every song bred in heart and spontaneity. It is an organic air and array of textures which grips the imagination as much as the sounds themselves; a fly-on-the-wall like climate baring the same open heart as that of their creator.
The catalyst to the project was the death of Terry, the drummer of The Tuesday Club. His sad passing came just as the band was deservedly stirring bigger and bolder praise carrying spotlights, a time topped by the band supporting Toyah at The 02 Islington and releasing their most successful and critically acclaimed EP to date. It was a world crushing time for the band and especially for Dermot who was also coming to terms with divorce, life dictating and changing illnesses for both parents as well as the constant struggle of being self-employed. It was a time many would have buckled under but Dermot focused all the suffocating turbulence into his music and turned it into a creative quest, one which at times you feel probably completely took over his world but gave him a survival and now the listener a spark for pleasure and thoughtful contemplation.
As the tracks we have reveal there is no ‘woe is me’ self-pity fuelling the adventure. Yes, it scratches his open wounds at times and is not always sharing smiles but every moment is an open insight and reflection on his feelings across the evolving year of those challenges and the life around Dermot in St. Albans with plenty of knowing black humour involved along the way.
The first track swiftly grabbing years was Future son – The Twa Twa’s, day 8 of the creative pilgrimage. Instantly it reminds of My Songs About Life Mid Crisis with its post punk twang and Dirk Wears White Sox era Adam and The Ants like character. A gorgeous hook lurks within the angular clamour, Dermot’s vocal delivery a swinging flirtation matching the similar allure of bass. The structurally organic design of the track alone is a web of lust clasping shenanigans, the song in its whole a psyche infesting treat.
Some tracks have an even rawer sound and temptation than others, This house is empty (day 10) one which borders abrasive in sound but within its causticity is an instinctive funkiness which has the body bouncing and appetite eagerly exploring words and emotion. There is a sense of despair and also hope carrying new beginnings felt with the track, a conflict most of us are no strangers too at some point and can grab with nodding recognition.
The clutch of songs within the sampler show the great array of styles embraced by the Reverse Family sound, the outstanding I stand alone (day 13) a post punk natured infestation managing to sound like a mix of Fire Engines, Swell Maps and unsurprisingly The Tuesday Club with Dermot’s distinctive tones yet is unique in every pore while MP3 (day 310) is a junction box of sonic wires casting a Devo meets Pere Ubu scented discord over the imagination.
The darker, grungier Faded colours (day 336) offers melancholy at its most magnetic, In my head (day 337) sharing a sonically and emotionally haunting incursion on the senses as pained as it is corrosively elegant, and both songs continue the broadening maze of flavours and emotional tempestuousness within the sampler alone. Like many tracks, each is also a relatively brief encounter; fleeting moments in an unsettled and often unsettling day though Bad cartoon (day 343) stays a little longer with its melodically jangling and evocatively persuasive as Bowie-esque toning draws the listener with seductive ease into its own personal melancholy.
The punk ‘n’ roll of Do it just for me (day 344) hits the spot just as easily, its tenacious canter a gentle cacophony of guitar, rhythms, and voice while I built a new contraption (day 356) shares a broad grin in its post punk/art rock pop. The pair relish in the addictive prowess Dermot constantly finds in his minimalistic but oh so potent grooves and hooks, though he saves maybe the most addictive for Breathy graffiti (day 365), its electronic poking the kind of inescapable nagging lust was bred for.
So that gives a hint of what is in store for us once 365 begins revealing its heart in a few weeks. It would be a little unrealistic to expect every one of the songs within the 52 EPs, each suggested to contain seven tracks, will hit the lofty heights of those on the sampler but do expect each to be the most honest and spontaneously shared temptations sure to intrigue and captivate like nothing else around today.
We for one just cannot wait!
The first of the 365 EPs will be released digitally from 2nd October 2015 through Perfect Pop Co-Op / Nub Country with one a week through to the first week of October 2018. For more information keep an eye on http://reversefamily.co.uk and https://www.facebook.com/reversefamily/ or through https://twitter.com/PerfectPopCoOp and the Perfect Pop Co-Op magazine.
Pete RingMaster 26/08/2017
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Do you deliberately go out to push your sound into new areas or let it organically evolve?
We asked you this the last time but interested to see if anything has changed in the opportunities for new bands to make an impact on your local scene let alone nationally and further afield.
It is a stunning start more than backed by the EP’s title track. Eagerly prowling riffs court ears first, their instinctive swagger soon infested with sonic discordance and again catchy grooves. Each aspect has a predacious air to their tone and antipathy, a hue coating the vocals and the overall character of the dark and heavy animus of sound and emotion. In saying that, a lively contagious nature easily infests body and appetite as it does in the first track, just with a more primal and fearsome breath.
It is an outstanding dramatic start which alone demands repeat attention to the release and quickly backed in potency by the following Blinding Supremacy. Instantly shaped by the predatory tone of Stan Albers’ bass and the imposing swings of drummer Wouter Macare, the track is an even darker and more murderous proposition than the first but fusing a controlled lighter tempting into its inhospitable climate. Indeed it has moments which skilfully and imaginatively wrong-foot expectations and assumptions, creating a maze like proposal which simply grows more impressive with every passing minute and listen.
The following Walk The Walk shows a bit more restraint in its attack as a Rage Against The Machine scented grooving and attitude swiftly hits the spot. Grooves again entice and rhythms snap, Gulino’s bass a prowling incitement within the sonic blaze as his vocals heartily roar. The anthemic prowess of the On Top writing and sound has never been subdued but is fully uncaged within the second track and in turn its successor Everything. The track is simply balls swinging, chest thumping rock ‘n’ roll; an almost punkish assault so unite one’s eager energies with.
Nudisease is just as appealing and intrusive as its predecessors though with a more tolerant nature, riffs and grooves to the fore from its first breath. The intensity of the first two is pulled back in the third though its fire is as pyre like but turned into a hook carting swagger which has the body bouncing. Slips into calmer passages are fluid and magnetic, the track revealing a bolder adventure than the previous two if less of their greed inducing savagery while successor Through Your Eyes also embraces mellower climes in its more mercurial atmosphere and proposition. The song though has a volcanic temperament and heart which fuels its melodic and aggressive sides, creating an unpredictable and rabid but ultimately restrained trespass which maybe teases more than fulfils but still leaves pleasure stuck in its previous high.
As its shaker of electronic coaxing raises the curtain, strings like lures scythe across the senses quickly being joined by Lintern’s equally beguiling vocals. A darker bass tone rumbles in the fore ground, a great distraction soon losing its central grip as more and more hues add to the adventurous story being unveiled. Robustly pungent beats throb as those strings weave sinister suggestion, their rich bait adding to the surges of incessant probing which fire up the senses even more.