Subjangle
Berlin-based Hans Forster (of The Sealevel, Seaside Stars, and Man Behind Tree) and his Hanemoon quartet have joined South Africa's Subjangle label to release "Untitled", which may be his most dulcet and enchanting work to date, despite the stiff competition of the three fantastic albums previously released on the Jigsaw Records label.
The opening double salvo, "Remember Any Time Soon" and "Rain", as well as "Dropped" and "I Think You're Thinking", extracts all the beauty from their omnipresent jangled riffs with a contemplative brilliance. The guitar work of musicians like Stephen's Shore and The Radio Field, who expertly sustain their notes to produce that ideal musical gift of prolonged resonance, a defining characteristic of the jangle-pop genre, is reminiscent of this quality.
The neo-acoustic twists and plinks of "Scared" and "Young and Odd" suggest uneasy introspection and resigned melancholy, while a further layer of emotionality emerges as the sound becomes sparser. The use of pedal steel in songs like "Listening Later On", "Motorcycle Rise Again", and "In The Rubble" further develops this sound and presents Hanemoon as the archetypal advocate of smoky barroom jangly Americana, evocative of the 1990s.
