I AM THE RAIN
16 . 05 . 11
IDLE FRET / RED DEER CLUB
A joint release from London's new indie label Idle Fret and Manchester's own Red Deer Club, comes Stealing Sheep's second 7" single to hit the shops this year. Recorded in various studios including Abbey Road, Liverpool's Mello Mello cafe and the girls' own apartment, the record is an eclectic mix of atmospheres and production styles. It's titled I AM THE RAIN and features a double A-side single that includes the title track, as well as NOAH'S DAYS, BATS and SECRETS. Coaxed in with a Velvet Underground, Beatles-esque psychedelia, I AM
THE RAIN is flooded with tambourines and chanted vocal harmonies in a nostalgic reference to sixties drone pop, yet the Stealing Sheep girls resonate a somewhat cutting edge twist to this familiar sound.
NOAH'S DAYS bellows a darkwave, Radiohead-meets-Bat For Lashes sound. It's in no way your conventional poptastic single but it's catchy, chanty choruses will bounce around in your head for days. A quick flip over to the B-side and you find yourself with BATS, a well-perfected, math-folk, doomy pop song soundtracking a Cowboys-and-Indians-style cartoon. It's pretty epic with a patchwork structure, rhythmic patterns and acapella vocal section - quite a journey into the Stealing Sheep girl's musical world - and it's delightfully followed by SECRETS, a glitchy pop remix of some demos originally made on cassette with producer Joe Wills. It dives in and out of Yann Tiersen-style piano on low-fi synths with Casio beats and broken trip-hop interruptions, resolving upon a swoony reprise of the title track. It's a great taster for their forthcoming album due out in the winter and holds its own wistful, musical experience. Enjoy!
... more