| From the Perthshire Advertiser (28 Aug 2001) A strange thing happened when i stuck (on) this sparsely (but adequately) packaged demo from debaser. It features exactly the right kind of lo-fi sounds and attitude i've been championing for the last two weeks or so - the bizarre thing being that the cd was handed to me in the pub nearly two months ago! So, telepathy and time travel apart, what's debaser all about? True to it's title the first track - "This Is Not Clever" - isn't. It's a short instrumental track that has little melody and, while fine to listen to, doesn't add up to much. Some of the tracks were recorded at Almondbank's Unit 31 rehearsal studios which also provides a basic, but useful, recording service and some at home. Track two - "F**k You" (sorry guys, this is a family newspaper and i'm probably not allowed to use the f-word!) - is one that was recorded at home but is a shambling masterpiece sounding somewhere inbetween Eels and Sparklehorse. Third up, "Shutdown", is another instrumental - like track one it's quite lively, upbeat and ok listening...but pointless on a demo other than to give a break from the other slo-fi tracks. Normally we'd draw the line after three tracks but to neglect some of the truly great tracks elsewhere on the demo in favour of the instrumentals would be a crime. Track four goes back to the lo-fi style and benefits from Unit 31's recording input. "Love Song" is, quite simply another fantastic track. The demo is completed by another couple of home recorded tracks - "Where Did The Time Go?" and "Acoustic Song". Both more of the same good stuff. The vocal style is a key ingredient but sounds a bit mid-Atlantic and nasal sounding and there's a couple of lyrical cliches including a nod to Neil Young's "better to burn out than it is to fade"! Advice? Drop the instrumentals (keep them for live shows, though!) and grab tracks 4, 2 & 5 (in that order) - if you can, remix with(out?) such extreme stereo panning. Then have it mastered through ProTools, put a contact phone number on the cd and package and start geting it circulated around record industy types where it will create a monster buzz. Brilliant. Dave Arcari |
| it's far too easy to get things right |