Early Day Miners - Offshore

Offshore', originally written in 2001 by composer/producer Daniel Burton does feel as if it is from another time and another place. Although Godspeed You Black Emperor! are the most obvious reference for this style of epic-Americana, from the outset this recalls Mogwai's 'Come On Die Young'. Elegiac layers of strings and guitar distortion roll in and out over almost tribal drumming. Moving into My Bloody Valentine territory briefly, the bleak, urgent moments that so strongly recall the depressive Scots' sound of the nineties are tempered by the introduction of more American instruments. Mixed by Tortoise's John McEntire, this album or 'piece' bares the hallmark of that band's endless eclecticism as well as harnessing the more hopeful alt-country strains of Songs: Ohia, another early Burton collaboration. Described as 'the director's cut', this shifts moods as a score would, its 'all star cast' of musicians letting themes and ideas drift to create a melancholy but rewarding listen. [Caroline Hurley]