‘PI MAGPIE’ TRACKLISTING : <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Pi Magpie
2. The Devil\u2019s Interval
3. For The Song
4. Wearside Rat Catcher
5. Hosianna Raft
6. Joe Caligula
7. How The Moon Got Its Light
8. Part Time Blind
9. The Pin Point Night
10. Faking Halos<\/p>\n\n\n\n
littlebow, the London-based duo of multi-instrumentalists Katie English and Keiron Phelan, first broke ground in 2011 with their debut album on Second Language, The Edge Blown Aerophone \u2013 its title an explicit reference to the varied flutes and woodwinds which characterized the record, alongside vestigial flavours of classical minimalism, Krautrock and a soupcon of esoteric, pastoral prog-rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having established their template, Pi Magpie<\/em> sees littlebow expanding their brief considerably \u2013 their signature flutes now part of a broader sonic palate in which tremulous keyboards, spidery guitars, cyclical drums and sonorous Eastern percussion ebb and flow with equal consequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The title Pi Magpie is apt, denoting as it does, the notion of \u2018intelligent, mischievous theft\u2019, thus indicating littlebow\u2019s appropriation and synthesis of numerous musical styles. Not that this is an album merely of postmodern collage: palpable human warmth, generous melody and a jazzy freedom of expression are the true hallmarks of Pi Magpie. So, even as \u2018For the Song\u2019 evokes Philip Glass gone be-bop, the up-tempo \u2018Devil\u2019s Interval\u2019 summons Zuckerzeit-period Cluster, \u2018Part Time Blind\u2019 suggests breezy quasi-\u201860s instrumental exotica and \u2018Hosianna Raft\u2019 recalls the sun kissed optimism of Can\u2019s Future Days, this remains first and foremost music predicated on originality, seductive timbre and timeless art-pop accessibility. Which remains the case even when you learn that \u2018Pin Point Night\u2019 is based squarely on Stravinsky harmonies, or that all of the album\u2019s bass parts are played on duo pizzicato cellos and structured on complex gamelan rhythms \u2013 Katie English being a regular performer in London gamelan orchestras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n