Manitoba
Up in Flames
[Domino; 2003]
Rating: 8.6
Something must have happened to Manitoba's Dan Snaith. His 2001 debut
for the Leaf label, Start Breaking My Heart, was blissed-out
pastoral IDM that warranted Boards of Canada comparisons. Then he went
off and made some clubby tracks that dabbled in UK garage. And now,
with his second full-length Up in Flames, he's chucked the laptop,
dug the analog gear out of the dumpster, and recorded a 60s-worshiping
indie rock record, complete with sun-kissed harmonies, layered acoustic
guitars, Farfisa organ drones and glockenspiel. You have to admire the
chutzpah. Seriously, I can't remember hearing this stark a contrast
between consecutive albums in a long time, maybe ever.
The sound of Up in Flames is key. In contrast to the world of modern
computer-based music, where noise is precisely controlled and each layered
instrument can be mentally plucked from the mix and examined, Up in
Flames is a colossal field of unified sound. The sheets of acoustic
guitar and organ wrap themselves around the booming drums (mostly acoustic
kits tuned to the full timbre of the Hal Blaine era) and you can't pry them
apart. The obvious production inspirations are Phil Spector and Brian
Wilson, both of whom arranged songs during a time when men had more ideas
than available tracks. So they had to cheat, bounce, and compress, and the
best records that came out of it were massive and unknowable. Up in
Flames, whether by choice or necessity, has the same warm feeling of
ramshackle Wagner. When it came time to record, "precision" was a goal far
down the list.
Despite their obvious 60s references, most of the tracks on Up in Flames
aren't really songs in the traditional sense. Instead of prominent
verse/chorus/bridge structure, we hear a series of swells and contractions.
Snaith has a good understanding of the tricks and techniques of pop's biggest
and best moments, the moments that stop your breathing during the pause just
before the big chorus, and he set out to make an album filled with them.
"Hendrix with KO" (which is one of a couple songs featuring the voice of
Koushik Ghosh) has some lyrics, but most of what you hear are just day-glo
bah-bah-bah's that serve as suspension cabling to carry the track from one
section to the next, through the Mamas & Papas homage to an electronic coda
that's a rare memory of Manitoba's prior incarnation. "Jacknuggeted" has a
similar arc but reminds me more of Neil Diamond in the Bang days, all
"Cherry Cherry" handclaps and stiff-but-funky D/A/G acoustic strumming,
but then another digital breakdown at the end brings in sputtering breaks
that would have had Greenwich & Barry lunging for the Stop button.
As tied to the 60s as it is, Up in Flames can of course be described
as a psychedelic record. The way the absolutely huge "Bijoux" swirls with
Wilsonian harmonies, layers of chords, music boxes, percussion explosions
and orchestral samples, I swear, it almost takes on a Boredoms cast. Not
in terms of aggression, but as a primal celebration of the possibility of
sound. "Kid You'll Move Mountains" is similarly dense, but this one sends a
snaking soprano saxophone through the changes. A tenor sax erupts in the
latter part of "Skunks", tearing off into a series of riffs that add the
same sort of "free" element to the track that Stereolab incorporated into
"Fuses". And the fuzzy "Crayon" sounds like Múm covering the Jesus & Mary
Chain's "Taste of Cindy". Because Up in Flames is so focused on big
moments and aural candy, it's wise that Snaith decided to keep the record
under 40 minutes. He blows you out and then packs it up.
If Snaith were to follow the trend of most electronic producers, he would
have given this project a different name, the way Atom Heart does with Señor
Coconut. Though, I'll grant that there's some conceptual overlap. Up in
Flames certainly has a wide-eyed and affirmative outlook, and features
titles like "Every Time She Turns Around It's Her Birthday" to go with Start
Breaking My Heart's "Children Play Well Together". And there are a few
moments where Snaith's IDM head pops out of the fabric. But that's as far as
it goes. The two albums aren't in the same universe. Is Snaith confused? Maybe
he wants it all. Maybe he doesn't know what he wants. Because Up in Flames
is such a good record, we win either way.
-Mark Richardson, April 3rd, 2003