Free School – Time Breaks
After such a great day for GB at the Olympics yesterday it seems almost odd to come back to the music. Rather than something triumphal, I’m more in the mood for something soothing. The Balearic disco of Free School fits the mood perfectly. And it’s a free download.
Free School are a duo from Birmingham, UK, (Andy Porteous and Steve Alcock) and have appeared here before. Time Breaks is from their new album Tender Administration. There’s something classic about the sound of their Balearic Disco. They tend to get compared to Caribou but this track reminds me nothing so much as early Fluke tracks like The Bells. There’s an easy-going grace to it all. A rolling style that uplifts without getting over-excitable. The multi-tracked breathy vocals. Top marks chaps.
Here are clips (sorry) for the album:
Blurb: After their ‘Ranting & Raving’ and ‘Unraveling After the Lottery’ EPs, we’re proud to announce the debut album from our favourite maximalist Balaeric electronic duo, Free School. The album sparks into motion with the aptly named ‘Theme From Free School’ a slow burning intro of drawn out pads and strange sounds layered over an enigmatic, distorted passage of spoken word. ‘Meet When The Moon Is Full’ is a galactic cruise through silken star belts, complete with an epic instrumental chorus and that fuzzy feeling. Track three is the 2011 single ‘Ranting & Raving,’ but not as we know it. The new full string arrangement transforms the track into a billowing, spine-tingling opus. ‘I’m Not Nintendo’ follows, taken from their EP earlier this year. It’s as momentous and eccentric as ever. ’Spring Brings New Technology’ is a subtler piece that affords to linger fluidly around the senses, equally suited to the twilight hours or a lazy sunny afternoon. The duo’s enthralling nine minute sound-movie piece ‘Lemon’ comes next. It’s a profound offering that pushes all the right emotive buttons. ’Time Breaks’ introduces the first sung vocal element to the album. The building low-slung groove references early Moby as much as the it does early Cosmic Disco from the likes of Daniele Baldelli et al. Up next and off the second EP, ‘Unraveling After the Lottery’ pounds away with the vivacity of a marching drum gala, amidst android vocal cuts, pulsing strings phrases and synth loops. Iberico initiates with arcs of synthetic organs and chirping electronic detritus before the hardest beat on the album drops, then reinvigorates the arps and synths for a full bodied middle. The album ends with ‘Theme From Free School (Reprise), a beautifully rich cinematic experience, full of Vangelis undertones and progressive string movements. A wonderful end!’
The strings version of Rantin g and Raving is lush. The whole album is wonderful but why not released on vinyl?
I asked the band and they said wasn’t economic.