Friday 14 December 2012

Music - Part 32 - The Spaceape




Size isn’t everything.  At less than 13 minutes for 7 tracks, Spaceape proves this.

Stephen Samuel Gordon is a poet, and, a damn fine one at that.  Set to samples of Voodoo drums and Haitian music we find seven tracks telling seven stories in an amazing chaotic style that beggars belief.  Gordon executes each track with amazingly originality. 

Neurolymphamatosis (a rare cancer,) and, Gordon’s three year battle against it, is the ‘inspiration’ behind Xorcism and the chance describe his condition through music.

Opener, Your Angel Has Come, argues with God (etc..) and the impending reality of death.  Backed by a Voodoo beat , the track is frantic and exhilarating, making your heart feel like it’s beating in your throat ready to burst out uncontrollably.  Further voodoo from Haiti on On The Run, and, if the vocal style has a hint of Tricky then it’s ironic that the female vocal has a more than passing resemblance to one time Maxinquaye collaborator, Martina Topley-Bird.   Telling of deceit by life and ultimately the realisation of the lies fed to us. 




The hard-hitting tale of betrayal of the body in Palaces can’t be ignored, making you feel Stephen’s pain and anguish.  He Gave His Body Over To Science is the most ‘poetic’ in style – so vivid are the words that the image of medical experimentation is easy to visualise.  A Siberian chant backs Spirit Of Change making it a hypnotic and enthralling experience.

Penultimate track, The Sound, carries on where On The Run left off.  Frantic wind instruments and random percussion in the background.  A superb collection ends with Up In Flames and Haitian folk (I kid you not!).   The ‘Devil’ guests on vocals with a warning to a complacent human race in an almost John Cooper-Clarke styled poem.

Xorcism is quite simply a breath of fresh air and a superb EP.  It’s downside?  That it ends too quickly.  The positive? That it means you can play it again quickly!

Brilliant! 


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