There will be a lot of Eno comparisons tossed around this one. But sometimes the most apt comparison is also the best way to praise a release. West Kensington from Mary Lattimore and Paul Sukeena is a record that transports a listener, period. It's lush in brief moments, harsh in others, and altogether of itself, and in its own world.
With Mary playing harp and synths and other instruments, and Paul playing guitar and other instruments, the sounds are Eno & Fripp, Lanois, Roger Eno, etc. The things you'll think of when you hear opener "Hundred Dollar Hoagie" may be those, or the zither-ish score to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest for me. "Flaming Cherries Jubilee at Antoine's" slowly unspools on a sinewy guitar-line and bits of harp and synth creating a bed behind that. It's vaguely unsettling, but it also holds a listener in thrall, as things never quite erupt the way you might fear they will. Elsewhere, "Didn't See the Comet" is elegance itself, the skipping harp and guitar bits recalling portions of Harold Budd's keyboard work, while the whole track seems suffused with a warm glow. While that one's a highlight, I venture that lots of listeners will be drawn first to "This Time Juliane Landed Softly", a throwback gem here, full of New Wave-y keyboard-lines and a delicious sense of momentum.
West Kensington is a delight. It's a spacious space-y record, a reminder of an era when bold music wasn't necessarily pretentious. There's an easy boundary-breaking thing happening here, with the selections having as much electronic power as an old Krautrock record, even as the textures make up their own uniquely American mystery. This might be indie of a sort, fusion of another, but it's a pleasure to listen to, certainly.
West Kensington is out on Friday via Three Lobed.
[Mary photo credit to Jamie Kelter Davis. Paul photo credit to Mary Lattimore.]