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LP
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DIGI 047LP
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While husband and wife duo Brad Rose and Eden Hemming might be best-known for more "challenging" sounds, they managed to rack up accolades for their first foray into pop with the Mechanical Gardens (TYPE 073CD) album released by the Type label back in 2010. Nightrunners is Altar Eagle's second full-length together and pushes the duo's woozy pop sound into a flickering neon haze. The soft-focus beauty of Eden's voice is now placed center stage, and the industrial pop productions are as dreamy as they've ever been. Whether through the whimsical dub-influenced opener "Carousel Ocean" or cold-wave shakes of album highlight "Runaways," the duo have an authenticity that is impossible to place, and a singular quality to their music. As they saunter from electrified shoegaze notes to darker sounds, each track seems intrinsically linked to the next, imbuing Nightrunners with a narrative that brings to mind classic 4AD -- from the jagged pop of This Mortal Coil to the outsider dub-pop of Colourbox. These are songs dragged kicking and screaming through a thicket of microchips and frozen pizza. Just lie back and enjoy the ride. Original art and design by Radek Drutis, the guy responsible for all those ace Madlib sleeves. Mastered by James Plotkin and cut to vinyl at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Vinyl edition of 500 copies.
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CD
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TYPE 073CD
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Brad Rose (aka The North Sea) is probably the last person you'd expect to see at the helm of a pop album. A folk record -- maybe, a noise record? sure, but pop? Probably not. Yet that's exactly what he and his wife Eden Hemming have done with Mechanical Gardens. The Altar Eagle sound might not come as much of a shock for those cassette collectors who have managed to source copies of the duo's now-rare debut EPs, but for the rest of the world it should serve as a radical change in direction for one of experimental music's most valuable sons. The ear-splitting noise that enticed listeners on Bloodlines is all but forgotten as Brad and Eden pick through shimmering dream-pop and cold-wave electronics with the greatest of ease. The quality is assured within minutes of the gorgeous Slowdive-esque opener "Battlegrounds." Anchored by Eden's humming, ethereal vocal tones, the song is a glorious statement of intent and while the band go into clubbier directions on the second half, this song is a gateway to their sound. Possibly the biggest surprise on Mechanical Gardens is the sound shift which occurs mid-way through the record, as the bubbling bliss of "B'nai B'rith Girls" gives way to the abrasive electro growl of "Monsters." Influenced in part by Eden's long-time love affair with techno and Brad's recent obsession with synthesizers, the duo strike a perfect middle ground between crumbling experimentation and pop excess. This is rarely better explored than on "Spy Movie," a track that somehow combines the supposedly warring sounds of Juan Atkins and early My Bloody Valentine. On Mechanical Gardens, Brad and Eden have created an album that revels in its grab-bag of influences, but somehow they have managed to emerge with a sound that is totally singular. It's pop music for sure, but un-cynical, atypical and hugely enjoyable.
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