Sideshow, "Admit One"

This dubwise sideproject from the established Ninja Tunesmith seditiously defects from the singer-songwriter's last album under his primary Fink moniker.  Yet unlike the icy-hot textures crafted by current kings of the sound Rod Modell and Stephen Hitchell, Fin Greenall's approach curves away from deep space revisionism while skewing more towards Rhythm & Sound's rootsy reverence.

Aus Music

Although his Ntone debut Fresh Produce rendered an auspicious contribution to the subgenre formerly known as trip hop, Fink's subsequent divagation into unremarkable folk-inflected indie fare largely failed to leave much of an impression on me.  While the move earned him a new crop of followers, Greenall's iconoclastic desire to make dull songs for wistful boys and girls too proud to buy Dave Matthews Band albums alienated many of his initial fans.  To those left behind and embittered, consider Sideshow, his subtly techy yet inherently organic contribution to the endlessly expanding co-option of Jamaican music by electronic producers, an olive branch of sorts.

Admit One is the second Sideshow full-length for Aus Music, a Simple Records imprint that Greenall co-founded with DJ/producer Will Saul.  Contrasting with the bedroom studio norm that dominates in electronic music, these ten tracks result from a collaborative band effort, with bass, percussion, and string duties almost entirely farmed out to other musicians, leading to some unadulterated performances that save the album from the common pitfalls of more machine-driven recreations.  "Youth Of Today" contains everything I enjoy about dub music, from its low slung bassline and snapping drum hits to the sonic pulses and echoes, generated in this instance by Greenall's hands-on use of primo effects units like the Alesis Quadraverb GT and the Boss SE50.  Tech-house hybrids "Sequential Dub" and "African Cherry" provide that little something-something for the dancefloors, though their tempos will likely confine these 4/4 cuts to warm-up sets.  On the vocal front, Paul St. Hilaire's perpetually honeyed tones bless the wide open spaces of lead single "If Alone", while Samar's persistent repetitious vocals on "French Model In Dub" complement Ellie Wyatt's disconsolate strings.

Only marginally more uplifting than a Tindersticks instrumental, the cinematic "Strung Outro" presents Wyatt's lush strings and Greenhall's tender plucking immersed in Tim Thornton's chiming cymbals and hats.  This track exposes a curious alternate future for this group, one that bridges both of Greenall's projects without crossing any dangerous boundaries.  The lone abscess on this otherwise unblemished record is, unfortunately, its opening track "Television," a fatuous specimen of insipid pop sung by Nashville's Cortney Tidwell, an otherwise reliable alt-country artist that should have known better than to record this uncharacteristically vapid driblet.  Lacking any real connection with the rest of the choice material on Admit One, it gave me such a bad impression that for weeks I avoided listening to any of the other tracks.  Thankfully, beyond this lies a wonderful album awaiting listeners willing to jump the minor hurdle and hit the forward button on their respective iPods.

 Samples:

• If Alone
• Youth Of Today
• African Cherry