Richard Sen (formerly of Bronx Dogs) and Neil Higgins (of the Dirty Beatniks) established Padded Cell in 2002, gradually evolving into the sinister production outfit captured on this new album for DC, which could hardly sound any more on-trend if it tried - and it clearly is. Fans of Italians Do It Better and DFA should have plenty to get excited about here: these productions are rooted in the Italo sounds of the '80s, with sinewy basslines, gratuitous bongo playing and Euro-sleaze synths forming the backbone of the music. Amongst the period production techniques you'll live instrumentation to match. 'Faces Of The Forest' carries enough improvised weirdness to help you forget about whatever sequencing might be going on at the core of all this. String bending guitar and fluttering, delayed horns keep things loose, but sounding markedly less focussed than on the Devil Rides Out disco of 'Savage Skulls' or the skewed pop song 'Word Of Mouth'. Top class gloomy retro stylings from Higgins and Sen, all round. This CD version features a slightly four tracks not on the vinyl edition: 'Moon Menace Part II', 'Faces Of The Forest', 'Night Must Fall' and 'Konkorde Lafayette', while 2LP carries extended versions of all its tracks bar 'Are You Anywhere?', which as with the CD edition is presented as an edit.
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