Jesse Fahnestock's 10:40 keeps up the high hit rate with Sleepwalker, a gently psychedelic, pulsing piece of music, slipping into a sweet spot where the trippier late 80s indie groups, Motorik rhythms and blissed out electronics overlap. Guitars are by UFO Club's Ben Lewis and beamed in vocals are from The Weather Band's David Rosenheim. The arrival of the throbbing, wobbly synthline at sixteen seconds and then a second a little later raises the pulse rate and then the guitars dapple their way in, like bright sunshine through thick tree cover, all light and shade. Lovely stuff. Six minutes long and it could go on longer without outstaying its welcome.
I used to sleepwalk a lot when I was a kid. On one occasion I ended up fully asleep but wedged in behind a wardrobe (I vaguely remember dreaming about being in a tunnel) and having to be rescued by my dad. Another time I got fully dressed in the early hours and was about to go out to do my paper round several hours too early and still fast asleep. Disconcerting. Thankfully I grew out out of it although talking in my sleep continued into adulthood. I noticed recently my wife has begun sleep swearing, occasionally muttering 'for fuck's sake' as she rolls over or switches sides. Make of that what you will.
The two other 10:40 songs on the EP are both worthy of your attention too. Neighbours (Dub) isn't a cover of the Australian soap theme tune, more's the pity, but a slinky instrumental and there's a very laid back Spacemen 3 edit, Let Me Down Gently- which does exactly that. Buy it at Bandcamp, a pay what you want deal.
For god's sake I hadn't any experience in sleepwalking so far and thank you for this great stuff, Adam
ReplyDeleteI don't think I ever sleepwalked, but as a kid I used to dream a lot that I was in the water and sleepdive...an even worse idea, given that this was the pre-duvet age of bedsheets and blankets, tucked in. More than one occasion of waking up, headfirst at the bottom of the bed, panicking and trying to get out. Even weirder when I think about it that my parents didn't take this as a cue to not have tucked in sheets...! Thankfully, my subconscious adventures in deep water eventually came to an end.
ReplyDeleteIt was your initial post about Jesse's remix of Spacemen 3 that got me checking out his other releases as 10:40 and I'm in complete agreement, I've enjoyed (& posted about) pretty much everything he's put out this year, including this EP.
I've enjoyed all three tracks on this release and it's good to see some vocals emerging. I also particularly enjoyed his recent collaboration with Emilia Harmony as Electric Blue Visions.
Jesse's remixes as 10:40 (and with Darren Bell as Jezebell) have been a delight. The previous 10:40 EP included a great dub of Courtney Barnett's History Eraser and he recently posted a remix of The Verve's One Way To Go on Soundcloud which is just sublime. I'd love to see Jesse have a go at a Balearic dub of the Neighbours theme tune, I think he'd smash it :-)
This may be hard to believe but I've never seen Neighbours or heard the theme song ... it never made it to the US. So my mind is open :-)
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