Review by Heather Phares
A truly experimental band, Imitation Electric Piano keeps getting stranger and catchier with each of their releases. They've evolved from jazzy post-rock that stayed within the orbit of Simon Johns' other band, Stereolab, to more eclectic, song-based work on the very appealing Trinity Neon, to the even more freewheeling and more accessible territory of Blow It Up, Burn It Down, Kick It 'Til It Bleeds. Arriving three years after Trinity Neon, this album suggests that Imitation Electric Piano will try anything at least once, whether it's pairing energetic rock with keyboards that were last heard on a '70s kids' TV show, as on the opening track, "Tension," or concocting expansive soundscapes with a dry sense of humor like "Relatively Good Times." Helping Imitation Electric Piano sound more versatile than ever is new vocalist Mary Hampton, who has a clear but wispy -- and very British -- soprano reminiscent of two other Marys: Mary Hansen, the late Stereolab vocalist/keyboardist, and Welsh folksinger Mary Hopkin. Her fragile, ladylike voice leads the way on two of the album's outstanding tracks: she's winsome and wistful on "For the Best," a piece of folky chamber pop that knows better than to be sad about the fact that life moves on, but is anyway. On "I Mean Wow" her voice is so high and pure that it almost sounds like a flute or synth tone, while the music moves from a slow, lush intro to brisk, breathless pop with skipping electronic rhythms and shimmering guitars and keyboards. These songs are so unique and pretty that it's almost too bad that Imitation Electric Piano didn't stick with these sounds for all of Blow It Up, Burn It Down, Kick It 'Til It Bleeds. However, the rest of the album is just as intriguing, and nearly as good. The band goes in a very different direction with "Leave Her Johnny," a smoldering song with massive guitars and keyboards and a lumbering beat that seems like it'll steamroll over Hampton's vocals, but the imbalance ends up working surprisingly well. They take the biggest risks on the final, title track, delving into heavy prog with Krautrock underpinnings; though it doesn't come off quite as well as what came before it, its awkwardness is part of its charm, and typical of Imitation Electric Piano's charm in general: if you don't like what they're doing on any particular song, stick around for a few minutes, because it's bound to change.
Imitation Electric Piano
Blow it Up, Burn it Down, Kick it 'Til it Bleeds
[Drag City; 2006]
Rating: 7.6
Ideally, a band should get better as it goes along, finds itself, and carves out a sound of its own. This is exactly what Imitation Electric Piano, a project helmed by Stereolab bassist Simon Johns, has done over the course of three releases. You could say any band led by a member of an institution as venerable as Stereolab had an unfair advantage as far as that's concerned, but Johns and his mates have impressively outdone themselves here, moving further out of Stereolab's orbit and pulling off the seemingly impossible task of getting more focused while also expanding the range of their sound beyond its electro-jazz core.
A big part of the band's overall improvement can be attributed to the addition of Mary Hampton on vocals and a bit of organ. She has a high, somewhat fragile voice, not entirely unlike that of the late, deeply missed Mary Hansen of Stereolab, and she gives the band an axis to revolve around that they haven't quite had before. She also blends well with Johns, especially on the largely wordless "Come Into Force", where they circle each other like dancers, mirroring the interplay of electric guitar and harpsichord that opens the song. It's a breakneck song all around, stuffed with crunching riffs and inventively employed lead guitar.
Rock muscle is more on display here than on previous releases, as Johns and Andrew Blake crank up the distortion and move the guitars onto an equal footing with the buzzing organ that otherwise dominates the music. Johns recorded most of the backing tracks, and as you might imagine, the bass sounds fantastic, giving the whole album a burbling, swinging low-end full of melodic phrases and hypnotic repetition. This, along with the swift drumming of Lee Adams, keeps things highly kinetic until the cover of the traditional "Leave Her, Johnny", an ominously crawling thing full of downright gruff organ that leaves you longing for a return to the sharp beats that came before it.
And you do get a return, in the form of the closing title track, which rides a fuzz guitar riff Blue Cheer would've been proud of-- it's a grooving counterpoint to the song's proggy stop/start sections and the strange, droning vocal harmonies that lead it. It also ends things on a very promising note, displaying a growing ambition that could put this band over the top. As it is, they've made a very fine record in Blow it Up... and established themselves as a great deal more than just a side project.
-Joe Tangari, February 16, 2007
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