Small Black - New Chain - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

After months of thawing out in an uncle's attic, Small Black emerged with one of 2009's catchiest debut releases. The Small Black EP, as it is called, melds strange beats, dreamy synths, tape hiss and laid-back melodies into pop jams. Now 2010 sees Small Black teaming up with Jagjaguwar for a deluxe re-mastered of their debut EP with two extra songs added, InchKings of AnimalsInch and InchBaby Bird Pt. 2. Inch

In 1893 Claude Debussy wrote to his friend Inchit is Tristan that prevents us from working. On can't see... I can't see what could be created beyond Tristan.Inch The French intellectuals, especially musicians and writers, were captivated by the magic of Richard Wagner's music and were frantically looking for ideas as to how things could go on after Wagner. Without doubt, all musicians were acutely aware of the fact that the possibilities of tonality, the key element that had united European music for 400 years, were exhausted. However, in France there was more at stake In 1870 the conflicts between Germany and France had culminated in a war that the French had lost. Subsequently, removing the German element at least from art and culture and developing genuinely French music became a question of national identity. That is why, in 1871, Gabriel Faure and Camille Saint Saens founded the Societe Nationale de Musique which was to further the new French music. The programme on the present was born out of this tradition, and is performed here by the SWR Vokalensemble.

The cover of Brooklyn-based Small Black's second LP, Limits of Desire, features a photo of a man and a woman embracing on either side of a ladder, completely naked, divided by it's triangular arc. They're close, but they can't get any closer. It's a moving depiction of connectivity and interaction in the 21st century and it serves as a sort of source code for the record.