Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - Things To Do With Your Hands At Parties by Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - Talk Less Say More (Three Birds) by Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - Mononoke by Records On Ribs

Do You Beat Your Heart Or Don't You by Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - Worker's Stadium by Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - Glue by Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - 3am Phnom Penh by Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - Repeating by Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - Soren & Regine by Records On Ribs

Talk Less Say More - Bonfire Night by Records On Ribs

Released as part of Bonfire Night on 21st April 2017. Bonfire Night culmination and pinnacle of five years of dedication to writing pop music Bonfire Night is literate, funny, clever and experimental; as expressive as it is catchy, as interesting as it is indispensable. The title track took more a decade to complete, spanning numerous iterations and reworks, false starts and throw aways. But it’s all there now - time, aging, liberation from anxieties. It is symptomatic. The core cycle here shows the diversity and song-craft at play, telling the story of a romance beginning to end. ‘Things To Do With Your Hand At Parties’ is a total romp of popping slap-bass, vocoder and sky-scraping guitars and arpeggiators. ‘Chicken Wings’ is a stately string-led tale of a nocturnal breakup, late night sadness as night turns to dawn and silence turns to birdsong. Referencing existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s doomed romance with Regine Olsen, ‘Soren & Regine’ is a beautiful piece of chamber pop. But there is plenty more where that came from. ‘Repeating’ comes in with a kraut pulse, motorik beats sounding like cLOUDDEAD colliding into Dexy's Midnight Runners. In ‘3am, Phnom Penh’ delayed vocals are a call back to Brian Eno’s ghostly Berlin era productions with synth lines straight out of The Cure’s Disintegration. ‘Glue’ brings beautiful brass borrowed from Neutral Milk Hotel and swung drums beloved of almost every great nineties pop hit. The concluding track ‘Talk Less Say More (Three Birds)’ is the last track Matthew will be making as Talk Less Say More. It’s gorgeous: 90s house piano lilts with flutes over with bubbling synths, choppy guitar alongside 80s inspired bongo solos and a chant. These elements are somehow brought into a seamless whole. The attention to detail is staggering - from the random analog blasts to the clipping of a snare drum reverb in the introduction. “So no more songs for these three birds” sings Matthew “no more agonising over words”. Bonfire Night is a brilliant record, the final part of the art pop trilogy of albums begun with the critically acclaimed England Without Rain in 2012 and continued with Violent in 2014. It is a bittersweet because this is an ending. But what a way to go out. For fans of: Kate Bush, The Chap, Tears For Fears, early Talk Talk, Peter Gabriel (yes), Eno, M83, Everything Everything, Leonard Cohen’s 80s period if it was poppier still. Praise for England Without Rain "England Without Rain is an album with such a surfeit of ideas and imagination that one almost feels that it's not really fair" The Quietus "Quite simply, this is one of the very best netlabel releases I’ve ever heard...fizzles with imagination and lyrical wit. The fact that it’s free and much better than any commercially released pop records of the last 10+ years just makes it all the better, not to mention making a mockery of the entire commercial music industry." Fwonk* "a charmer, an object lesson in density and restraint with hundreds of fresh ideas and nuanced recollections, none of them overdone...a completely dudless album.. 9/10" Whisperin' and Hollerin' "England Without Rain is a great record packed with track after track of pop minimalism that shines brighter than a 1000 suns. With an incredible pop sensibility and sense of futurism Talk Less Say More create a synthetic robotic world where pop music is created by machines and perfected by mathematical formulae" The POP! Stereo Praise for Violent "Jennings is clearly revelling in the cornucopia of instruments and talents at his disposal. However, he never loses his way in his search for a crafty tune and this is reliably melodic, eclectic and fun synth-pop with its tongue firmly in cheek." Leonard's Lair