Reach: BELLERUCHE // Manchester 23 May 2012 {Roadhouse}
We’ll be catching up with Belleruche upon their return to Manchester this month, and you should too. They’ve switched up their sound a bit for the fourth album, now sounding a bit like Goldfrapp getting jiggy with The Clash whilst, quite impressively, not really sounding like anything else out there.
Some blurb on the new LP:
‘Rollerchain’ is the fourth album fromBelleruche, out 7th May 2012 on Tru Thoughts records. Showcasing a stunning new progression in sound for the acclaimedLondon trio, the LP is preceded by the“Stormbird” single in March, which has already clocked up 100,000 YouTube hitsin just a few short weeks, as well as early radio support including Steve Lamacq,Huey Morgan and Nemone on BBC 6Music.
As evidenced by the single, on‘Rollerchain’, Belleruche have created a darker, more bass heavy and evocative sound, whilst still retaining the melodic soulful touch that sets them apart and has gained them a worldwide fanbase. “Stormbird” is a sub bass driven pop song with clipped drums, tempo shifts and swells of looped feedback, unlike Belleruche‘s previous work but drawing from the same cabinet of sonic references. The entrancing video is on the Tru Thoughts YouTube channel now. As the album opener, this gorgeous little distorted oddity of a track grabs your attention and runs away with it through the shadows into a new sonic underworld.
Combining a very modern aesthetic with classic song writing ability, the album is a collision of haunting vocals, tough analogue sounds and bleeding edge electronic production. Stranger rhythms and basslines inhabit this record; both in the studio and onstage, Belleruche have picked up new instruments and ideasto create a complexity and an attack that take the band’s core elements – vocals (care of Kathrin deBoer), guitar (Ricky Fabulous) and turntables (DJ modest) – to a new level. Away from the distractions of their hectic touring schedule, they spent the last five months of 2011 writing and recording the album; taking sounds and twisting them, recording straight versions of songs with bass, drums and guitar and then tearing the idea apart to find a novel and captivating style. This unconventional approach to songwriting has resulted in a record which is introspective yet aggressive; the harmonies flit between menacing and angelic, and soulful siren deBoer is by turns endearingly candid and enticingly enigmatic.
Previous recipients of Steve Lamacq’s BBC 6Music Rebel Playlist and iTunes Single Of The Week, among other wide-ranging media support, Belleruche have won themselves a fervent fanbase both at home and across the world, through the deep and offbeat yet instantly loveable sound of their three previous albums, ‘Turntable Soul Music’, ‘The Express’ and 2012’s ‘270 Stories’. Defined by a down-to-earth DIY spirit, a real affinity with their fans, and a boundless enthusiasm for the business of playing their music to as many people as possible, they are consistently in demand as a live act, and have toured major venues in theUSA, UK, Europe, Australia and beyond, plus festivals as diverse as SXSW, Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party and Montreux to name a few.