Less than a year after his last solo album, the excellent About the Light, reviewed by me here, Steve Mason is back with an all new EP. Coup d’état, out today via Domino, is a fairly funky bit of business from the ex-Beta Band member. What's here is brief, but it's full of ideas, and compelling passages of expansive music.
"Like a Ripple" is damn near a dance number, but one of the highest order, while "Against the World" is even more percussive, elements here recalling Eighties-era remixes from New Order of all things. The real highlight of Coup d’état, however, is "Head Case", a spry indie-pop ramble with production from Martin Duffy (Primal Scream). Over an elegant piano-hook that made me think of Ramsey Lewis, Mason croons in the same sort of easy style he used on those trippy Beta records. This cut, polished as it is, is extremely catchy. Coup d’état ends with a Tim Goldsworthy remix of "America is Your Boyfriend", one of the more memorable selections on About the Light.
Coup d’état is out now via Domino.
More details on Steve Mason via his official website, or his official Facebook page.
[Photo: Gavin Watson]