Backhouse Lily: Discoma

When I tell you that the Backhouse Lily duo of Carl Adami and Bill Maihen play bass and drums respectively, you may well begin to wonder if we here at SoT have begun to turn our hand to other less expected genres such as drum 'n' bass. Admittedly there's an obvious connection between d'n'b and the BL guys, but the unusual mix of dancey beats, indie pop rushes and a progressive outlook cause this pair to sound reasonably dissimilar to any one particular band or genre. In itself that is a good thing, however whether the eight brief (we're on the boundaries between EP and LP here) musical forays ever fully convince is never quite so clear cut.

Impressively the sound this couple create is far reaching and diverse, while the splashes of melodic colour Adami brings through his bass musings does have you scouring the paltry, if beautifully presented accompanying information to see if anyone is credited with six string guitar, synth or keyboards. They aren't and on that score you can only marvel at the skill and awareness this four string maestro possesses as he brings a huge range of focuses and depths to this release. Maihen too is skilled on his chosen instrument, cracking out varied yet polished beats from song to song, the production and mix (both by Adami) adding considerable clarity and bite to this side of things too.

However in the end, whether through the spacey "Participate", the funky reverberations of "Give A Shit", or the laid back jazzy pop of "Discoma", it is hard to shake the feeling that you are in essence listening to the demo jammings from a band working through song ideas for a further, more rounded presentation. That's not to suggest that they sound unfinished, but most of Discoma does undoubtedly come across as the sort of stuff you'd find on the "extras" disc from some late eighties, early nineties Indie band. Although there's no denying that there is also a huge amount of charm and character to what Backhouse Lily produce, even if a lot of it ends up being background music as you go about your day.

Plaudits to Backhouse Lily for attempting and in fairness achieving something a little different from the norm. However as often can happen when that is one of the purposes behind a musical project, the results aren't perhaps quite as convincing as they need to be. Still, this is a release worth hearing, especially if you are looking to step outside of the usual fare most bands serve up. Given time Backhouse Lily may well evolve into something impossible to ignore.

Track Listing
1. Dark Harmonic
2. Push
3. Phat
4. Discoma
5. Under the Radar
6. Glitch
7. Gone in a Flash

Added: July 5th 2013
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Backhouse Lily on MySpace
Hits: 2230
Language: english

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