Of God and Science “Of God & Science” (Detach Records 2007)

Space is the place

God hides from the empiricists and can only be found by the faithful. If this band can reconcile God and science then it would mean a paradigm shift (interestingly there are several ‘intelligent design’ websites where they do actually claim to prove the veracity of the bible via science). Musically they are a little less ambitious concentrating on literate indie-sounds (maybe Joan of Arc with some of the corners sanded off) and adding in subtle touches of Americana, so ‘A Lesson in Decay’ I swear has some banjo tucked under a duvet of spaced out guitars and keyboards (maybe Yume Bitsu with vocals) and adding some woozy pedal steel to finish off (sounding like Japancakes), something they repeat on ‘Nations are Cults’ which along with twinkling keyboards is a kind of sci-fi-Americana-post-rock. Not all the choices that they make are as intriguing: ‘America’s Queen’ is disappointingly one dimensional; you won’t find God or the Devil in the details of this BMRC style rocker.

They like to get perspective on the debate by taking the songs for a blast into space; ‘Empty Space’ is at heart a pop song that detours into a search for the heavens and ‘Into the Light’ recalls (rather than apes) Kraftwerk’s ‘Man Machine’ album before again orbiting twinkling space maybe to check which star God is hiding behind. You get the impression that a lot of the passages from these songs would be ideal for piping into your helmet as you drift in space; the umbilical cord of your iPod feeds you ‘Drift Alone’ where the banjo comes to the fore and pedal steel appears like the sun rising and flaring off your visor.

Date review added:  Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Reviewer:  David Cowling
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