Those discerning folk at Melodic Records have struck again, here with the debut album from Manchester’s Phil Kay, aka King of the Mountains. Title track ‘Zoetrope’ is a slow-building, six-minute, locomotive-like slab of percussive ambient dance — trancey psychedelic digitalism constructed over a burly two-chord loop. Although a propulsive tune, conjuring visions of hazily watching the landscape drift by from a window seat, and barely an off-peak day return away from The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Star Guitar’, Kay’s inspiration for 'Zoetrope' was rather more static: “There's a similarity in using these really hard-edged electronic materials to try and create something human and meaningful, and the way the brutalists used concrete and steel to do the same. I'm more influenced by architecture than any other art form. When you see a building like Sagrada Familia you realise the sheer potential of the creative mind.” What was that Frank Zappa quote about dancing to architecture? He'd have had to change his punchline after listening to this.
Zoetrope is out now on Melodic Records
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