Andrew Valentine

The Split 7” has, and probably always will be, a pretty indie affair. On the scale of all things indie, and trust me, such a scale does exist, it’s probably somewhere between owning an un-ironic cardigan and being a member of The Wedding Present. Neither of which are pre-requisite attributes for enjoying this release, the first in Brighton based OIB Records' split 7" series, but they almost certainly help. But then, so would a predisposition for living in vans and sleeping next to another person's vomit, so let's not get too much into creating a 'mood'.

What you get over the vinyl's 10 or so minutes is a fairly broad selection of what, to all intents and purposes, pop music sounds like when it's not produced by Timbaland and when it doesn't suck. Lonely Ghosts, aka Help She Can't Swim refugee Tom Denney, offer up the spacey folk mixed with straight ahead anthemics of 'Predictions For The New Year', while Munch Munch contribute the ADHD disco of 'I See Sexy Dead People'. The latter sounds like it was produced by sanding down the guitars until they packed up, leaving the band with no choice but to get through the rest of the song on flatulent synths and plinky xylophone. It's very good, not that you have time to notice, because the song's over quicker than you can say "Haley Joel Osment is not your average child star.

Elsewhere, Gay Against You are their wonderfully lopsided selves, 'Wall Wizzard Part 2,' flopping drunkenly out of the speakers whilst singing falsetto, stomping on your feet and making all sorts of strange and compelling noises until you agree to accompany it to the dancefloor. The best though, comes with one man band The Tumbledown Estate, who gets the biggest props here for the ambition of his songwriting, and the sheer exuberance with which it is conveyed. 'Voodoo Wave' sounds like four great songs falling down a lift shaft, and creating a glorious, technicolor mess at the bottom, euphoric rock bits meeting quiet, tender bits, and at the end, an unexpected but completely lovely 8 bit-ty bit. If nothing else, it encapsulates the 7"s one theme, that creative schizophrenia makes for consistently exciting listening, a party of ideas thrown at/through an invisible wall, just to see what happens. Invigorating, and in its own indie (it's short for independant!) way, inspiring.

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