Super Pattern: SPII
Self-released
Out now
Recorded over a week in an AirBnB in Wales, synth poppers Super Pattern made a debut whose spontaneity, succinct songwriting, and buoyant synths guarantee it extreme genre longevity.
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
With more originality than any Spotify-conjured genre, Super Pattern have pioneered nu-croon, which – judging by this absorbing album from late last year – brings a supergroup of The Zombies and Stereolab into the now. To do so they’ve sewn together melodic keys, eccentric synths, and sonorous vocals with neat, enigmatic songwriting. The cleaner synths are countered by the rubbery rhythm section, using the playfulness of Can’s outsider prog – making the album a consistently intelligent, vivid psychedelia. Simple lyrical phrases keep it grounded during its loftiest moments. The opener’s conversational vocal trade-offs compliment the staccato keys, representing a psychic battle of personalities.
Super Pattern distinguishes itself from stuffy prog elsewhere: its natural ability to disguise focused minimalism as exquisite maximalism; as on Vigilante, where the bass’s smooth counter-melody fits into the lissom keys and electronics like a krautrock-ish jigsaw of Spacemen 3 and McCartney II. Minimalism is even more imperative on Forever, a fuzz-heavy riff turning the lyrics into a revealing fanfare of devotion. The saxophone (courtesy of Cate Le Bon bandmate Euan Hinshelwood) deepens the immersion, adding a layer to the synths; another marker of how they subsume other genres into a whole, as the instrument thrives in luxurious free jazz. Perfume’s worlds are separated by articulate drums: from a mathy gallop in the verse to its swinging chorus of Beach House gauziness; they deftly modernise old gear and nostalgic influences, creating surefire repeatability. The drums provide as much emotion as the subdued vocals, the saxophone replying to its polyrhythms to bridge technical jazz and poppy tragedy.
The classy writing on Winner hinges on just a few notes, inverted into pairs of tessellating melodies and synths placed so organically that even Sparks would be awed by such transformational avant-pop.
Euphoria stretches to its full wingspan on the final track, its untainted optimism coloured by serene major chords and harmonic saxophone; this ties up the album’s credo of positivity over melancholy. Complimenting the surreal tones and lyrical threads throughout, By The Book’s melancholic commitment also makes the album an entrancing ode to the often mythical realm of music-making.
Listen to SPII on Bandcamp.
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Follow Super Pattern on Instagram.
Words by James Kilkenny. Read more of his articles here.
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