The linking of Ian Masters (Pale Saints, Spoonfed Hybrid) and Warren Defever (His Name is Alive) was a nearly mythic pairing. Whether you actually heard the music they made together in 1995 or not almost didn't matter; if you were a fan of either, or both, you could imagine how special the issuing from their talents would be. And it was, of course.
Mars is a Ten, reissued now, is a record with an unearthly pop sense about it. Simple and quietly elegant, the material still retains a ghostly charm. "Sticky Sun" is as catchy as mid-period Boo Radleys, even as "Web of Dream" marries folk with the faintest hints of the avant-garde as backwards tapes run wild in the background. Those are two examples of the talents here, and what they bring to this project. Each musician gently prods the other into new spaces, with "Land of 102A" bringing an eerie grace to Masters' usual style of vocalizing, and Defever's iconoclastic noise-making. Things reach a kind of quiet peak on "Splinters" where acoustic guitar meets feedback, however, briefly.
Mars is a Ten may not be what fans of either of these guys' other bands might expect. Things are quite understated. And there's little here that's as darkly lush as Livonia or as ornate as In Ribbons. Instead, Defever and Masters marry their skill-sets to the material, letting the simple compositions nearly disintegrate in their hands, as bits and pieces of clever studio magic add a ripple here, or a flourish there. ESP Summer made something wonderful with this one, and the music has a hauting quality that's undeniable. You come to this album imaginging the directions that either Masters or Defever could pull this, and remain compelled by how gently the two upset those expections. There's a hypnotic quality here, yes, but one that's somehow more direct and organic than some records in either of these players' back-catalogs. And that's a remarkable bit of praise for musicians who were so willfully complex on other records.
Mars is a Ten by ESP Summer is out today via Disciples.
[Photo: Cale Wilbanks]