A rather remarkable EP from a somewhat enigmatic artist. Press kit biographies for releases are not usually worth quoting but, here, the effort put together by Chloride City is both slightly confounding yet unusually neatly illustrates how curious this all is.
“Aniseed is standing on a water damaged desk in an abandoned office building, microphone in hand. Ani came to record sounds…sounds that underpinned Ani’s own childhood in the rural throws of East Anglia. Ani takes a break from recording the ambient creakings of the collapsing cubicles“.
That melding of the empty, abandoned and alienated with the warmth of the countryside pretty much sums up the four tracks on Geranium. Sprinklings of acoustic guitar that remind one of out of focus soundtracks like John Barry‘s theme to Midnight Cowboy somehow sit comfortably with hollow industrial sweeps more akin to a toned down Mondkopf effort. Polar opposites yet they sit comfortably together.
‘Crabshells‘ kicks things off with a picked guitar melody and piano. Downbeat echoes of found sounds make things all rather disorientating and stoned but it’s warm and enveloping. There’s a light rhythm that reminds of that road movie. It’s at once strange and disconnected but also comforting.
As if to show off that this may only be four tracks but we’re in broad-sweep territory, ‘Game With The Tin Cat‘ is straight up next with an almost structureless collage of processed and ominous sounds. Beef it up a little and you would be in the aforementioned Mondkopf territory. As it is, it’s enough to keep you on your toes and make you feel faintly queasy. In a good way.
And thence we’re back to the beautiful and orchestral with ‘Mr Mylar‘ before the final track ‘Geranium Detector‘ ties all the elements together.
Geranium is a short but beautifully formed EP. It’s confusing because of the disparate elements on show but, and this is its greatest achievement, none of it feels forced. It’s not try-hard or showy. There’s no doubting the amount of work gone into this but it wears its efforts lightly. Extremely original and complex but everything hangs together just so.
If you’re looking for an introspective but strangely uplifting soundtrack to a rainy day in a factory, this is the record for you. Niche, perhaps, but Aniseed is a producer to keep a very close eye on. There is massive talent here. Managing to display that over just four tunes is quite a feat.
Listen here: Geranium by Aniseed
Geranium is out on 23rd November through Chloride City.
