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Weird Dreams - Choreography (album)

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The Hairs - I’ve Been Working Out 7”

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Single/Download Review

The Wyrd Interactions
EP Underused Records, download

Article written by Ged M - Mar 14, 2011

The Wyrd Interactions: EP

A world away from the Hillfields’ indiepop, Rob Hillman’s solo project is, as he describes it: “just me working some madness out of my system”. It’s a sort of urban-folk, like stories remembered from an unsettling nightmare, accompanied by a ragged skiffle-pop. Like Hillfields’ songs generally, there is plenty of content, with tales of the credit crunch, TWOC-ing cars on Sundays and the folly of beehive-theft, all set to banjos, ukuleles and droning harmonium (recorded in Soup Studios). ‘She Came Undone’ – apparently the story of "a bi-polar drag queen battling his demons" – is decidedly folky but backed with sheets of murmuring noise. 'Jonah Slide And His Suicide' casts a dark shadow but is weirdly uplifting, its ghostly delivery summoning shades of Galaxie 500, while the extraordinary ‘Bee Sting Death Booze’ is an out-of-body experience to a dimension populated by strange, scrambling Beefheartian blues shapes.

It might challenge your expectations at first but it’s worth persevering – there’s the same introspection and melancholic worldview that makes the Hillfields’ own releases so much more interesting that conventional indiepop, and Rob's solo release builds on that template with some very “wyrd” yet satisfying twists.

Links:
http://www.underused-records.com/
http://www.thewyrdinteractions.bandcamp.com/