Lali Puna - Faking The Books album review

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Everything goes pop in the end. There’s only so much dicking about to be done, on the esoteric, asymmetric fringes of the avant-garde, by anyone with a smidgen of humanity in them, before something snaps deep within and the little voice inside one’s head screams, "Where are the tunes? Fucksake, where are the tunes?". Making experimental music is often a painfully, painstakingly serious business, but on this showing, Lali Puna singer Valerie Trebeljahr and her Munich-based cohorts (from, variously, The Notwist, Tied & Tickled Trio and Console) are conscientiously objecting to the leftfield’s po-faced austerity. It’s easy to imagine them standing in the crowd at All Tomorrow’s Parties, giggling through their hands as Albini or Tortoise or (add your own over-earnest rock mathematician here) plod doggedly through another "challenging" dirge. The resulting album, while not exactly Busted, is as pop-infused and melody-drenched as anyone could ever wish for.

At its many peaks Faking The Books is as warm, immediate and playfully welcoming as a freshly-drawn bubble bath. "Left Handed" turns Blumfeld guitar atmospherics on their head, the title track’s gently seeping melodic hum is unavoidably beautiful, and "B-Movie" beguiles with strong percussion, glissando keyboard flourishes and an urgency not witnessed since Stereolab ditched the Kraut in favour of the Brasilica. If there’s anything negative to be said about Faking The Books – and, to be honest, we’re clutching at particularly stringy straws here – album closer "Crawling By Numbers" ends with a whimper where a bang would’ve been more appropriate. And if we’re being truly churlish, the sheer enveloping bliss elicited by hearing the album in one sitting (especially in public – Faking The Books is a headphone masterpiece and no mistake) leaves one wishing it were a whole lot longer than its taut 40-minute duration. Simple solution: play it again… and again… and again…

Charlie Ivens

Originally featured on www.playlouder.com