An apparently loosely-affiliated collective of two Londoners and an Australian multi-instrumentalist who mostly record at home may not sound like much of a premise for putting together a great album, but - against the lo-fi odds - that's just what UK STATES have done with their second album, 'Psychogeography.'
At the time of writing, this writer must confess total ignorance of the band's debut 'Home', but the grippingly unlikely fare presented here suggests some backtracking is going to be necessary, for 'Psychogeography' has plenty to recommend. Yes, it's predominantly the result of acoustic sessions laid down by the band's principal songwriters Christian Lewcock and Toby Carter in their London flats, but their tunes are then further embellished by multi-instrumentalist Jolyon Gray in his native Sydney and the low-key, but wry and harmonically-superior end results are truly quite splendid.
If UK STATES' method of layering their tracks by means of e-mail and posting tapes recalls the modus operandi of other out-of-step, but often brilliant outfits such as The Postal Service, Adem and Clayhill, well that's no bad thing, because UK STATES' introspective and fascinatingly skewed worldview and fragile-but-determined folk-pop sits pretty well in such quietly exalted company.
Lyrically, Lewcock and Carter's songs scrabble around within often overlooked corners of modern day living in London, touching on everything from losing vital limbs ('I Have No Legs'), through to sandwich fillings and insomnia ('Saddle Me Up') and communing with insects ('She Talks To Spiders') as well as more typical issues involving love and loss. Weak links are refreshingly difficult to detect and the fact the trio employ tambourines and all manner of home-made percussion (a loose Peruvian sock drawer you slap with your palms, anyone?) in preference to a regular drummer as such ensures their musical backdrop is supple and shifting without ever being ill-disciplined.
Lewcock writes the lion's share of the tunes and mostly delivers them in his warm, quizzical and slightly tremulous vocal, although the three of them work up some gorgeously breathy harmonies a la Crosby, Stills & Nash on tunes like 'Eyes In The Back Of Your Head' and the wonderfully restless and somnolent 'War Is Over' which closes the record, only to be subjected to a lovely, unexpected, Hawaiian-style reprise. Lyrically, many of Lewcock's lyrics are ostensibly rather dark, like on the apparently semi-suicidal, harmonium-driven 'Saddle Me Up' ("I take a load of Pro Plus/ I jump in front of a bus") though invariably leavened with humour within the same song ("only I didn't 'cos I didn't take enough").
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Elsewhere, Toby Carter's equally scuffed and enchanting songs act as the perfect foil. On tracks like 'Jessie Found A Baby Crow', his smokier, gruffer vocal delivery is an excellent diversion (slightly reminiscent of Clayhill's Gavin Clark) while the jazzy, just-woken-up stroll of 'Solar Winds' and the deceptive, country-pop canter of 'Surrounded By Darkness' - both Carter compositions - are also among the very best things here.
I haven't mentioned Jolyon Gray much as yet, but often it's his crucial instrumental touches that lift the best moments on 'Psychogeography'. His dobro playing on 'Surrounded by Darkness', for example, is a total delight, as is his lap and pedal steel work throughout, not least on Lewcock's wonderful 'Winter Rose': a sad, out-of-season love song of regret and resignation (" you gave up your home/ you gave up your books/ you gave up your faith..but she had faith in you") where Gray's gloriously ghostly steel drifts down like snow into a deep valley. All three of them also pull it together beautifully on the Lewcock/ Carter co-write 'Hollywood' where rumbling dissonance, an unlikely growling JJ Burnel-style bassline and Carter's fabulously crestfallen vocals combine to conjure something truly resonant.
But really, 'Psychogeography' presents us with a landscape that's both warm and familiar, yet stark and haunting at the same time. It's a place that will come to you and let you unlock its' secrets in its' own sweet time, but after a few visits you'll be seriously glad you came.
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