Alex Macfarlane - The Thousand Note Chord

Cassette

Latest set of home-recordings from Hobbies Galore head honcho Alex Macfarlane, a document of lockdown life i'd presume given they were recorded between 2020-22. Both Macfarlane's own music and that which he releases through the label, has regularly displayed a unique way of taking the familiar and making it seem off-centre, an idea that appears to be at the heart of calling a record The Thousand Note Chord. Don't let the DIY approach fool you - there's ambition in this songwriting, as Macfarlane continuously shifts tone, bending half-melodic phrasing around langrous guitars, atmospheric electronics and a hiccuping drum machine. If a song like the eponymous opener situates us on a porch somewhere on a moonlit praire, the centrepiece trio of Hatsuyume-Petroliana-A Bruiser Expires puts us somewhere between Another Green World and the moonage nightzone of Low's second side. It's not an entirely dissimilar experience to that of Yuta Matsumura's Red Ribbon, though it dials up the cosmic psychedelia a good few more notches. Not sure what homes Macfarlane was recording in, but its eye-widening to consider what he might do in a studio (and if i weren't told, i might struggle to tell the difference here). So yes, more essential stirrings from down under and no surprise. V. limited as per all on Hobbies Galore.