Three songs on this album featured in the first series of French drama The Returned although I could not say for certain which ones. Steeple Remove hail from Rouen and this is their first album in six years.
Jean-Herve Peron from Faust says "it sounds like German rock 'n roll but even better" and that sounds like a fairly apt description to me. It has motorik drive aplenty and all the tracks get time to work their groove out. 'Mirrors' comes out of nowhere with plenty of smoke to boot. The guitars chime and ring, keyboards swirl and the vocals wobble a little and it works itself up into a bit of a maelstrom. Then it breaks down to drums and prangs. It's very effective.
'Silver Banana' has a bit more of an obvious vocal melody and the synths are more omnipresent. "I can see you but you can't see me". It reminds me of a famous Hawkwind track, whether that is deliberate or not is hard to tell. I think it might be? 'Unclean' ploughs a similar furrow again but there is always just enough variety with these tracks to make it interesting. The guitars fuzz and buzz and the vocals a tad more aggressive. It's a bit more obnoxious this track yet somehow quite at peace with itself.
'Sunchine' has a distinctly sixties psych feel to it. It would make a great single. Lots of phase on the vocals and everything else for that matter and then the band inhabit the groove and basically well...do one. Top banana. 'Invisible Lights' sounds like it could soundtrack a supernatural TV series. Oh shit. Or maybe David Lynch for that matter. Downtempo and heavy on the fifties tremolo. Ethereal vocals. 'Calling Up' is based on a grinding, searching riff and this is where the influence of bands like Spacemen 3 seems real and then it fades to black.
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'Activation' sounds familiar and a bit indie in a Joy Division kind of way. The synth on this album is very granular which fills out the sound nicely. 'Imaginary Girl' plays with the same cracking snare but ups the tempo a bit. The last minute and a half of the track takes us into more ambient territory. It's almost a cathedral organ atmosphere. 'Home Run' is a much lighter affair and also instrumental but is by no means inconsequential. It is the longest track on the album. The final third of it I guess you would call experimental but it does add to what is a well produced and well sequenced album.
This band have a really full sound, I should really plug into the stereo and see how it fills the room and you probably should too. Might be a good band to see live as well.
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