I love artists that are hard to pigeon-hole, it shows an inquiring sonic mind, a lack of conformity or disregard for those journalist imposed rules. Perhaps all three. Yeah, genres, we are over that, right? A lazy journalistic hang up from a less articulate age. So if there is a thing as post-genre music Surrender to Robots is an example of it. Or maybe it’s just a great album.
And it is a great album one that blurs the lines between pop and rock, indie, electro and …well, everything else. Reach for the Stars is a perky pop piece, a million miles away from the usual chart pap but thoroughly deserving of a place there, Shiela is a clever, chiming, hazy slice of indie and the brilliantly named Polite Riot has chilled Brit-pop undertones. The swan song of What Do We Get? is a wonderfully weird way to put the record to bed, a beguiling mix of trippy psychedelic and brooding electro. Odd that having said that genres don’t matter I have just rattled off a whole list of generic reference points and comparisons. Journo’s eh? We are not to be trusted.
And despite all of this generic running around, it is a wonderfully consistent album with Paul Scott taking the musical building blocks from any style and sound that takes his fancy and using them to create beguiling new sonic architecture. And as for the self-deprecating moniker. Insufferable? Far from it. He’s welcome around my place for afternoon tea any time.
