Posted by Second solo album of the year for ex-Hot Club de Paris frontman Paul Rafferty, and also the second to appear under a brand new stage name. But whereas the first of those, Doomshakalaka, was a guitar-focused effort that contained echoes of his former outfit (concision; off-kilter time signatures; taut but powerful storytelling), Ancient Plastix represents something of a new direction.
This time we’re in something approaching ambient territory – analogue synth, recorded in real time rather than chopped up and looped, routed through guitar pedals and captured on good old cassette four-track. Comparing Rafferty’s work to the pioneering likes of Yasuaki Shimizu and Hiroshi Yoshimura, the press release describes how working without ‘screen-squashed waveforms’ gave greater room for instinct to shape composition, implying that a more considered approach might actually be damaging to creativity. OK, there’s certainly nothing in these ten pieces that sounds like it arrived by accident – see also: the Doomshakalaka LP, for that matter – but the whole thing feels wholly organic. It’s also utterly absorbing.
It says a lot about ambient music’s relationship with cinema that the Ancient Plastix sound conjures images of beaten-up cyberpunk cityscapes, and opener ‘Late Summer Low’ instantly feels like the soundtrack to an as-yet-unfilmed William Gibson script. Bursts of static jump between speakers before a low rumble of melody gently envelopes the ears, meshing the clatter of everyday surface noise with a sense of drifting out of consciousness. Much like reading about cyberspace as conceived by Gibson in 2020, it feels futuristic but in a very old-fashioned way. Perhaps that’s to be expected from a project called Ancient Plastix, recording electronic music on magnetic technology, or perhaps it’s just a coincidence. Certainly, though, the alignment is difficult to ignore.
Even as an expert lyricist writing without words, Rafferty’s knack for narrative songwriting shines through – these pieces all focus on structure as much as texture. Not only that, but while post-rockers such as Tortoise or Mogwai will self-admittedly write a beautiful piece of music before calling it ‘Oh! How The Dogs Stack Up’ for laffs, there seems more of an element of deliberation to titles here. Example? When the multiple layers of disorienting fug strip back on ‘The Dream Within The Dream Within’, it’s clear that a picture is deliberately being painted. Equally, when the layers of ‘Aging Edges’ rub smoothly against each other before dying out, you understand exactly what he’s talking about, as it prods gently and mournfully at your senses.
‘The Dream…’ also provides the album’s most thrilling moment – crystalline shards of sound swoop down like gulls to the water at the track’s climax, generating as swift an endorphin rush as the chorus of any straight-up pop song. You suspect Rafferty will turn his attention back to Doomshakalaka next, but hopefully there’s much more to come from Ancient Plastix – these beginning stages make for a fascinating future history.
8/10
Words: Will Fitzpatrick
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