The album can be freely streamed in its entirety here. (Highly recommended listening to on a decent pair of headphones, smashed. –MR)
“Pop,
not slop!” proclaims the tagline of DEEK Recordings, London-based indie label
run by Nathan Jenkins AKA Bullion. Indeed
so. Since its establishment in 2012, in-house producer and mixing engineer Jenkins
has developed a distinctive brand of sophisticated off-kilter pop, a unique and
uniform “DEEK sound”. Home to underdogs such as electric oddball Never,
funky techno wizard Thool and the immensely talented singer-songwriter Laura Groves, DEEK has
evolved into a kind of refuge for West London’s eccentric pop masterminds under
Bullion’s watchful guidance.
Ever
since being first exposed to Groves’ brilliant Committed Language EP early
last year, the label has become the object of my ongoing fascination. Looking
into the history of its steersman, I was delighted to discover that Bullion is a
not-at-all unknown name in the underground electronic circles. His 2007 bootleg Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee garnered significant online attention, mixing
snippets of well-known Beach Boys motifs together with sampling and drum programming
not unlike the late hip-hop legend (who had passed away the year before). Since
then, Jenkins has produced a string of releases on various imprints before
settling on his own label. His chillwave-influenced 2009 EP Young Heartache stands out as an example
of the early Bullion sound. The idiosyncratic, playful and adventurous style of sample
processing is complimented by Jenkins’ natural knack for groovy and
danceable beats, all the while drawing inspiration from the likes of Frank Zappa,
Robert Wyatt, Steve Hackett, John Martyn and who knows what other 70’s
one-man-bands nobody has even heard of. Judging by his radio shows and mix-tapes,
the man's frame of reference is tremendous. (By the way, can anyone who is reading this identify the vocal sample used here? –MR). As a production nerd myself, I
could not help becoming obsessed over the technicalities of how he sculpts
his signature sound.
2011
saw the release of the critically acclaimed “non-LP” You Drive Me To Plastic,
which showcased the now experienced producer’s trademark style of sample-orientated
musical composition, yet also signalled a change in direction. A previously unknown
facet of the Bullion character was revealed when he began using his voice in
songs and devoted more time to getting better at singing, writing lyrics and
recording instruments. His first release under DEEK – Love Me Oh Please Love Me EP – unveiled Jenkins’ remarkable gift for songwriting and melody, while Rooster EP from 2015 reassured his fans that he has not forgotten his roots in quirky
club music. I suppose a proper full-length album was a long-awaited natural
conclusion to such an impressive track record. After having followed Bullion’s
and his label’s doings with near-religious fervour for over a year, Loop The
Loop was indeed of my most anticipated releases this year.
Still,
even though it came out in February, I kept postponing giving the album a
good start-to-finish listen until only a few days ago. A teaser of the title track
was made public mid-winter, but I had ambiguous feelings about it. Instead of
the sample-based trip-hop producer I knew of, this masked Bullion character, I
suddenly came face to face (or mouth to ear?) with a flesh and bone human
being, a sensitive soul with genuine feelings to sing about:
When you went loop the
loop
The spiral stopped the fly
The people looking at you
All you can see is the sky
People talk down to you
All you know is sky
The
second "single" – Get To The Heart Of It – had a similarly melancholic vibe. Jenkins’
frail voice singing about things like “striving to be a part of it” and
“constantly thinking over it” in a kind of self-deprecating r’n’b slow jam was
not how I would have expected the record to sound like. At least he still knows how to craft a decent sub-bass, I thought to
myself. So I tried to escape getting disappointed. I was afraid the
album was going to be s**t.
Despite
everything, I eventually gave the whole thing a go and was amused to find that
sunny mid-June Tartu turned out to be a strangely fitting environment in
which to experience the album. The opening track – Dip Your Foot – features the talented violinist Sarah Anderson, a frequent Bullion collaborator, whose brand of oriental
string melodies have adorned DEEK releases since the first single of the in-label
band Nautic (Jenkins, Groves and bassist Tic Zogson) back in 2012. The Far
Eastern themed tribal beats bear a striking resemblance to the kind of music Ratatat used
to produce six years ago.
Still, with a sense of nostalgia for Nautic’s signature sound (Jenkins’ best work
to date in my opinion), I could not dislike the song even if I tried.
However,
Bullion’s introspective narrative is firmly established in track number two – Health:
I'm so passive I hate
to be
Things keep making their way past me
Missed those chances that I should take
I must be clever it's for my own
Sake
It
is clear that Jenkins is eagerly trying to convey a personal emotional message on
his debut. It almost feels like a story of the man’s quest for self-transcendence.
Escape the loop of fruitless rumination. Get out of your head and start making
changes in reality. Pass down the valuable lessons learned in life. You can hold the key! However,
the type of surfy and plastic sound Bullion is striving for makes for an odd
companion to the lyrical content. The emotion does not have the kind of
authentic impact that for example Morrissey's voice has when singing things like “I
never had a job because I’m too shy”, partnered with Johnny Marr’s moody guitar
riffs.
Nevertheless,
the album continues with a beautiful sequence of two minimal, mostly instrumental
pieces. The first of which – My Lar – sees Anderson’s distinctive string
passages explode into a glorious 80’s synthesizer pop celebration reminiscent
of True Blue era Madonna. Unless, the next track, is my personal highlight
of the first half of the album. Its
hauntingly alluring synth hook comes back around in the song’s final third in a
superb exercise of the ABA musical form.
In Self Capering, Bullion returns to the self-examining tone set out in Health.
Again, the careless summery vibe of the track creates a strange yet captivating
dichotomy with what the author is attempting to say. On the other hand, Never Is The Change, the truest dance song on the record, is a ridiculously catchy rhythmic journey, featuring a keyboard solo that would make Donald Fagen proud
(performed by label-mate and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Hackett). Its energetic
beat beautifully compliments Bullion’s positively life-affirming message:
Rarely is the change
you make from A to B
Try a different groove to see
You can hold the key
Speed begins with the most simplistic hook on the album, nearly crossing the border
over to the senseless land of novelty music (that Jenkins himself claims to
hold in disdain). Todd Rundgren’s over-the-top synthesizer experiments from the
early 80’s come to mind. Still, in a way that is developing into a kind
cyclically reoccurring phenomenon on his debut, Bullion keeps inserting into
his music something of such unusually inventive quality, that it forces the
listener to reinterpret the whole song in a new light. In this case, the playfully
blunt words of Speed, introduced in the track’s breakdown, transform
something that began as a mildly annoying novelty etude into a fully credible dance-floor
adventure.
The
album starts losing pace at this point, as the solemn Get To The Heart Of It is followed by perhaps the weakest link of the album – Palm 2. As Jenkins
continues with his life observations, the pun-driven Peep Hole ("What did you
expect to get from them?”) treads dangerously close to slapstick territory. Yet
again, however, he manages to meticulously navigate his way around it with some
unexpected chord changes and clever command of harmony. The album’s title track
pulls the listener back to a more serious ground again.
As his
debut nears its end, Jenkins finally demonstrates his full potential with It’s No Spirit, the album’s most authentic representation of the classic Bullion sound that earned him
his reputation. The heavy, brooding atmosphere and dream-like vocals (aided by
Groves), weighed down by the relentless energy of the drums, make this my
personal favourite track on the record. In another sudden change of tone, Jenkins
draws his personal journey to a close with FoYoC ("Float On Your Own Cloud").
The youthfully innocent and uplifting tune, complete with a soundscape of ocean
waves gently caressing the tropical coast, provides a fitting resolution to the momentum
that the whole album had been building up to. Brian Wilson would nod approvingly
as the spiritually awakened Jenkins ties the knot:
Live on your own land
Take all that you can
Soak up your own love
Sell out your own self
It’s
the sound of the summer.
To
the ones who are still reading this painfully analytical deconstruction of
Bullion’s debut, I have to admit that Loop The Loop is a strange album. Its quirky
pop melodies and novelty instrumentation combined with the Jenkins’ introspective
musings make for an unusual listening experience. It does not come as surprise
that the man spent at least two years fine-tuning and readjusting the record before
settling on its final form. Possible (or projected?) feelings of inadequacy may
have made their way into the musical. Some of the album’s wilder excursions still
leave an uncomfortable sense of inconsistency and there could have been better
ways to glue the tracks together into a coherent whole.
MR
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