Ellis Island Sound – Home Service EP

Although Ellis Island Sound’s major label deal was dealt a deadly blow after just one low-key singles/remixes compilation, thankfully the band show no signs of having sulked off into obscurity to lick their wounds. Quite the opposite in fact, the duo of David Sheppard (State River Widening, The Wisdom of Harry) and Peter Astor (The Wisdom of Harry) have merely taken their corporate dollar pay-off and headed back to the bedroom label outer realms that anointed them in the first place.
The initial result of such a well-funded escape is this luxuriantly packaged one-sided clear vinyl 12″ EP-meets-mini-album on cult British electronica label Static Caravan. Comprised of seven tracks spread over just 16 or so minutes, this isn’t so much a collection of songs as a seven-part instrumental movement for a mini-orchestra of acoustic guitars, digital/analogue drum machines, 70s synths, and antique Atari computers. The by-products are beguiling as ever, if slightly less instantly melodic than on previous releases. The opening”WG73″ is a particularly wonderful start, with its fresh-air driven homage to John Fahey’s avant-folk. The burbling drum machines and swirling keyboards of “Chop 3″ work even better in distilling a delicious mash of electro-organic sounds (though Brian Eno might once again need to consult his publishers over the striking similarities to his heavily worshipped Another Green World album). Adept at straddling stylistic boundaries ever further, the playful penultimate track, “Palmsville,” somehow manages to squash sleazy late-60s funk, distorted New Orleans soul, and junkshop electronica into the space of two and a half delicious minutes.
Just when you thought Britain was seriously losing the musical invention plot, along comes something that spins the strangest sonic cycles in your inner-ear and leaves you hungry for more. Whether Ellis Island Sound will ever get around to releasing a full-length record is unclear, but at least the breadcrumb trail continues to tantalise the taste buds.