YOUNGS, RICHARD & ANDREW PAINE - Snapshots Of Rural England

Paine and Youngs dont fulfil the expectation of pastoral views of the title on this disc, instead creating an electronic aural of an MRI scan. All three tracks are ruled ring modulated lines, multiple signals wound in kiss-and-tell streams. The transmission theyve titled Norfolk Sunset" has a distracted chill to it, mundane phrases and words chopped and reverbed as layering comes and goes. As electronic waves are bounced down through the track it becomes hard to follow any of these fleeting thoughts to end-of-sentence conclusion. As with much of their collaborative material theres a genteel feel to the music, even when it walks the more confusing paths. Like plugging a mic into the brain whilst manipulating sines with the other hand, the closing "Old Girton Fayre" is wet crawling early electronics. How they quite manage to summon up pre-dusk gentle rain through this tracks sounds is 8m 15s of unexpected genius. So that rustic-hinting title isnt too far from the mark after all. 8/10" --Ç Scott-Ç McKeating-Ç (30-Ç July,-Ç 2008 ). Richard Youngs and Andrew Paine: Voice, Electric Guitar, Harmonica, Ring Modulator, Sine and Square Waves. Recorded in Glasgow, April/May 2008.