DiS likes Gentle Friendly, what do you think?

Gentle Friendly are London-based Midlanders Daniel Boyle and David Morris. Beyond that it's tough knowing where to start as the lo-fi pop the duo conjure is a queer one. There are slithers of traces of echoes of others - the odd, moppet euphoria approached at different angles by Animal Collective and Joe Meek, the same drone hiss that haunted This Heat and still sounds bled from dissident bedroom radiators, the overwhelming percussive rush of Abe Vigoda - but ultimately Boyle and Morris are adrift, stalking their own lush territories. Perhaps that sense of isolation comes from their kit; keyboards reclaimed from defunct trade lines and drums part-rusted and rescued from a skip. There are voices, too - David's looped multiple and morphed into rasps and bellows by a system of effects devices, the whole thing connected by wires.

The best and most succinct description of what they do I've seen so far features in December's issue of Plan B magazine - they've a write-up in The Void section, the part dedicated each month to new music select, that describes their output as "kaleidoscopic claustrophonics". Tracks like 'Ride Around Shining' and the soaring 'Five Girl Night' have a quality that's definitely kaleidoscopic - glimpses of the "huge, glistening party anthem" the band claim influence from on their MySpace page emerging intermittently through a fog of noise and rhythm, the whole thing refracted and crammed through that salvaged equipment into something smaller; more poignant and private. Catch their tyro jams at the series of live shows listed below or in the four tracks of their debut 7" EP, which arrived today through No Pain In Pop.

Download MP3: Gentle Friendly - Ride Around Shining

Links: MySpace

Live:

November
25 Manchester Deaf Institute (DiScover w/Banjo or Freakout, Situationists, The Witches)

December
5 Nottingham Bodega (w/Abe Vigoda, Lovvers)
26 Paris La Fleche D'Or