Jumble Hole Clough: L'agent leve son baton blanc

Avant-garde musician Colin Robinson could no longer contain his inner garage rocker. 40 Thieves, the opening track on L'agent leve son baton blanc the new album by his one-man project Jumble Hole Clough, is a retelling of the classic Arabic folk tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, with mentions of a teckel, quite a bit of genuflecting, and, wait for it, short bursts of Louie Louie. Those short blasts to yank people out of their comfort zone keep reappearing throughout the album. Sleep Apnœa settles into a groove, with Robinson's vocals sounding like he recorded him one of those masks that are used to control breathing, only to be rudely awakened by a howling saxophone.

His knack for spinning off-kilter tales has been extensively documented, so for him getting another artist to come up with a story is pretty rare. Steve Lacey Marsden's voice for The playground by the abandoned mill is almost buried in a mishmash of field recordings and guitar licks that will have music instructors crying for the mother.

A few albums back, on Up the Wooden Hills to Heckmondwike, Robinson tried his hand on longform compositions. With Et les autos s'arrête, he comes close to that again, creating a soundscape that could be used for an alternate soundtrack for Jacques Tati's movie Trafic. The psych-prog excursion Squally showers sounds somewhat familiar, but like its subject matter it is filled blink-and-you'll miss it. Bringing the album to close with It's time to go home, another leftfield rocker, Robinson takes the piss out of those cheesy hard rock bands saying goodbye to their fans. Music lovers with a more advanced taste will appreciate the thinly veiled irony of such a gesture.

L'agent leve son baton blanc is a self-released album. Buy it (pay-what-you-want) from his website.

Tracks:

1. 40 Thieves
2. From Belgrade to Zagreb by bus
3. Et les autos s'arrête
4. Monsieur Thibaut est ingénieur
5. Sleep Apnœa
6. The playground by the abandoned mill
7. The Devil's Porridge
8. You can whistle down the wind
9. A man said hello to me
10. Squally showers
11. It's time to go home

» Jumble Hole Clough on Facebook

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