The Truth About Frank, The Sound Projector Review
Leeds combo The Truth About Frank don't do outright noise so much, but their brand of electronic twisterment and distortionist antics is always underpinned by a dark and brooding energy that appeals to natural pessimists like myself. On Cannibal Work Ethic (LYFCD0003), we hear a variety of approaches to supplement their alien synth noise - menacing loops on 'Love is a Cage', wild beats on 'Channelling Static', and sci-fi voice samples on 'A Butterfly Mind' for example - all in the service of limning a threatening vision of doomed society. But this is no Blade Runner fantasy, it's a chillingly accurate portrait of Britain in 2011, where the increasing demands of a nine-to-five job have now become so invasive they've taken over all aspects of our lives, even entering our dreams and, as shown on 'Shadow Sex', sapping our sex drive and vitality too. TTAF are reinvigorating the "dark ambient" genre in many ways, chiefly by using imagination and progressive ideas; one of their main strengths is the transformative nature of their tape and digital treatments, such that few familiar or recognisable sounds leave a trace on the disc, and everything has been twisted completely out of shape. Very good to hear such richness and body in these thick sounds; they use electronics like impasto paint applied with a palette knife. Full marks! Will be released on 4th July.
