“The Errant Charm” is a superb soundtrack for an afternoon idyll. Vetiver bandleader Andy Cabic spent hours wandering the streets around San Francisco’s Richmond District, listening to rough mixes, tinkering with lyrics and arrangements. The album opens with “It’s Beyond Me”, a slow boil of acoustic guitar and vintage keyboards over a roomy beat. Here you’ll encounter almost every sonic idea showcased on “The Errant Charm”, the album’s universe distilled into one vibrant song.
As the summery “Can’t You Tell” unfurls, you’ll begin to pinpoint some of the album’s unifying elements, the integration of drum machines and a washed-out, ambient guitar sound, peppered with jangly flourishes. Then there’s “Hard To Break”, the hazy, layered harmonies and sunlight-dappled guitar evoking fond memories of Fleetwood Mac circa 1982’s “Mirage”.
Cabic and producer Thom Monahan have already made four Vetiver records together and know each other’s aesthetics well. It was time to experiment more, which was why Cabic didn’t arrive at Monahan’s Los Angeles studio with many completed songs. Instead, they started with lots of loose ideas and fleshed out the best bits. In some instances, they augmented or edited parts by themselves, and at other junctures they waited until the remaining Vetiver players could convene in one place to contribute. Those full band performances figure prominently in the album’s driving midsection… “Right Away”, “Wonder Why”, “Ride, Ride, Ride”… each of these selections is more propulsive and rocking than the one before it. Certainly that was Cabic’s intention for The Errant Charm, to push the dynamic range of Vetiver to previously unheard extremes.”
Purchase June 14th on Sub Pop
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James Lavelle has confirmed a new album release for UNKLE in 2010. It is planned for May and includes contributors: Pablo Clements of the Psychonauts and Mark Lanegan, former frontman of the Screaming Trees. The new UNKLE album is entitled Where Did the Night Fall and Lavelle has described it as “different from the last one and a bit more electronic”. UNKLE’s last studio album, 
, prorated the more intimate, instrumental and ambient side of the group and as the title suggests is a collection of cinematic pieces “inspired by the moving image.” This was much the opposite, although production and vocal wise still heavily influenced, from the 2007 release 
which bore witness to the groups evolution from sample heavy hip hop to trancy electronic pop to rock influenced anthems. The genius of UNKLE is headed back full circle, 12 years after the breakthrough debut of 
.
James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem, DFA Records) has hinted in a recent article with 
, is “definitely better than the other two.”
