Originally written by Tom Eyers · 16 April 2001
Electrelane
Blue Straggler
Label: Let's Rock! Records Release Date: 16/04/2001
Electrelane, a 4 piece from Brighton, have been quietly winning over music fans over the last few months with a string of superb singles and captivating live performances. Taking as their base the motorik propulsion of Krautrockers like Can or Neu!, along with a darker post-rock twist, their singles veer between melodic playfulness and a shadowy undercurrent of Farfisa drone.
Blue Straggler is perhaps their best single yet. It's a melancholic drone-rock epic, beginning with a fairly familiar motorik rhythm before slowing into a gorgeous, choral wash of ringing synth, plaintive voices and slow burning, overdriven guitar.
Best of all is the strange, otherworldly feel of the record. As with their previous single releases, it is touched with a sense of creative singularity that is all their own. Imagine Stereolab stripped of their jazzy pretensions and touched with a sense of muted, end-of-the-pier resignation, and you're halfway there. Essential.
• 10 Tom Eyers's Score