CANT - Dreams Come True

Thu 22nd Sep, 2011 in Music Reviews

The industrious Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear, Department of Eagles, production duties on *Morning Benders) unveils his solo project, CANT, and employs moody synth devotee George Lewis Jr., aka Twin Shadow to help. The first thing that’s obvious is that Taylor’s approach is not to emulate his immensely popular work with Grizzly Bear, but to create an album using an edgier creative force.

Solo projects can often be an exercise in over indulgence, resulting in overcooked song writing that projects limited ideas onto too big a canvas. Whilst it’s too aggressive to label CANT in this way, the record is a little superficial, and fails to capture the tender hooks and create the dream-like spaces that his other projects seem to do so effortlessly.

To start with this record is darker. There’s a level of cold inaccessibility that exists that keeps you at arm’s length. There are tracks that blossom into lush passages and smooth low-end textures like BANG, and She Found a Way Out gracefully opens up from a fragile late-night ballad into a beautiful, semi industrial, cathartic chant, but for the most part the record explores opaque, synth driven shapes, choosing to remain aloof. This disconnect is curious. The XX’s debut record was truly nocturnal without being “dark” and still maintained a beating heart that was so compelling, so this kind of balancing act is not impossible, but Taylor has oddly avoided an emotional connection.

There are a surprising number of different styles operating within the album’s ten tracks. Opening song Too Late, Too Far starts off with an early 00s pop R&B rhythm, heavy on the beats, low on the melody. It layers a digital African drum over the top and adds some filtered vocals but by the end it’s turned from a Radiohead (circa Kid A ) tune to a lost Phil Collins number (his voice is uncannily similar). Believe has Taylor chugging through a Veckatimest -style bass riff underneath the undulating buzz of a synth. It creates a feeling of unease that loiters behind the lazy groove generated by the pleasant chord structure. The howling synth being pushed in front of the clock work rhythm in the title track would make Trent Reznor smile a little. These experiments don’t come together under a broader umbrella though and remain disparate pieces, giving the record a feeling of free association.

The production is great with some real depth to the recording, and while his attention to detail is pretty high it doesn’t feel too crowded. There are some very well defined passages lifted directly from a retro palette, but everything is refreshingly hi-fi, free of warp and hiss and other tired effects.

The running time is tight, which can be a double edged sword: no time to waste, no wasted time. There are too many elements to grab onto in less than 40 minutes so once the final reverbed strains of Bericht fade out there’s a lingering feeling that it’s not complete, that there’s still some magical unifying song he’s been holding back as an epilogue to tie everything together. Alas, this is not the case, and so Taylor leaves us wanting more. This is the feeling you want people to feel when making a record, and the progressive mind behind some of indie pop’s modern miracles is a talented musician that should (and can) be able to do this so easily. Why does it feel like he cheated this time round?