Exploded View – Exploded View

Beginning with the premise that anything on Sacred Bones is worth investigating, Exploded View doesn’t disappoint on the esoteric front. Fronted by Anglo-German performer Annika Henderson and recorded straight-to-tape in Mexico City, there’s something distinctly post-categorisation to the band’s debut long player.

Messy, discordant, and beholden to the serrated edge, there’s nonetheless a seam of verisimilitude in the execution; it’s the way in which both Disco Glove and No More Parties in the Attic unfurl in a haze of skidpan velocity, One Too Many turning up at 5am the worse for wear.

This is also a record that doesn’t shy away from taking different routes through left-field experimentalism – as much as Can and early Faust are obvious reference points, Lark Descending wouldn’t be out of place on a Broadcast record, whilst Call On the Gods alludes to cinematic divinity (with dub dénouement). Add a deliciously slanted production and Henderson’s Nico-esque vocals to the brew, and there’s a strange caul of fascination herein.