I thought that PUFF 7-inch Burka For Everybody released early this year packed the most tightly coiled firecracker I’d be finding in my pants, but Bronze might just have one-upped that single-serve brain-blast with their scene-poppin’ In Stone LP, dropping today on vinyl via BFE. It’s a punk-ish practice in barely controlled chaos, as many of the beats and synth smears seem ready to launch out of the speakers, and yet a steady sense of restraint keeps many of the best tracks in their rightful places even if it might have made sense to most to dress them up even more (for example, “The Angle,” “Under”) in the eyes of a more populist group. Bronze wear their synths on their sleeve, and tracks like the heady “Re-enactment” feel almost like an older Aa b-side combined with a choice Silver Apples cut. It’s propulsive, giving you a reason to leave the comfort of your record-room chair, and its best trick is its inborn sense of exploration, as if the aforementioned synths are feeling around for a lightswitch in the dark, each keystroke representing another random grope. “Inane” sounds more like the guy from Leisure Birds (Moon Glyph) locking himself in a helicopter, taking off, then slamming down on dozens of landing-/synth-patch pads. Then “Famous Faces” hits and it’s GAME OVER, not because it’s the last track in a stellar chain but because it breaks several of the rules established earlier on, applying spectacular layers of goodness Bronze had previously refrained from including.
Compelling, colossal, conundrum-causing; whatever word YOU decide best describes Bronze, make sure you climb the many crags of In Stone before you make your choice.
• Bronze: https://soundcloud.com/bronze
• Burka For Everybody: http://www.burkaforeverybody.com
• Not Not Fun: http://www.notnotfun.com
