Richard Haswell "Safety in Movement" (Independent, 2010)

Scottish bedroom pop Etudes

Haswell has recorded over 20 albums under the guise of G For Gnome and Rhubarb, but his newest venture falls under the far less silly moniker of his own name, and was tellingly two and a half years in the making. It sounds like it too. Haswell has a real DIY ethic to his music production, laying down the whole thing at home via laptap using just acoustic guitar, keyboards and drum programs, with some added bass, mandolin and effects from guests.

The sparse folk-hued opener ‘Magnetic North’ is something of a curveball as it resembles little else at all on the record; as for the remainder of ‘Safety In Movement’ Haswell comes on like a bedroom Radiohead, with traces also of other Caledonian pop-rock stalwarts thrown in amongst the walls of orchestrated noise and ambience.

Haswell shows himself to be an inspired arranger and sonic visionary throughout these nine DIY voyages into sound. The likes of ‘Dream Hill’ and ‘The Rise of Saturn’ sport an insistent drive and have definite traces of Radiohead’s skittering electronic aesthetics, experimentation, and impressive shards of noise nailed to it’s tail end.

‘Cause and Effect’ has Indie hit writ large all over it, what with its walls of electronics, rock anthemics and subtle guitar lines. Haswell’s usual dour vocals get raised on the chorus, and could be the album’s best rock song, though hints that his well written and realised songs could benefit from a more accomplished or expressive vocalist to present them.

‘Post-Goldrush Blues’ is the set’s most charming song. A real homemade paean with it’s archaic sounding drum machine clicking away, while Haswell charts the demise of a local record shop (Perth’s Goldrush Records, whose memory the album is also dedicated to) and the profound effect the contents of the shop had on local’s lives. Alt-Country aficionados wont be able to help but smile at his suggestion that you “Ditch those Beatles records and buy some Neil Young, then invest in a vinyl copy of ‘Old Number 1’” alongside its derision at hard drives, MP3s and modern day consumerist music culture.

No doubt Haswell is perfectly happy in his homemade DIY music capsule thank you very much, and good for him. He has very interesting songs, clearly has the ideas, and most of all the production talent and vision. However if he wants his work to get the attention it deserves he wouldn’t do badly getting hired help in presenting it.

Date review added:  Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Reviewer:  Ian Fildes
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  richard haswell's website