DuoTone - Ropes (2012)

If you were mesmerised by the dark and soulful debut by English cello, guitar and electronic loop pair Duotone, you're in for a great surprise. The mournful melodies and thoughtful lyrics of Work Harder and Some Day You'll Find Her [reviewed in #67] were touching to the core. But this latest release is a different creation altogether. Ropes is upbeat, punctuated by unusual rhythms, and infinitely more outward-looking. It is the lighthouse to Work Harder's lost ship, harnessing all that was great about the debut and mixing it with something much more rugged and mature.

Like all good albums, it should be listened to as a whole, but the instrumental ‘Night Walk’, a snippet of looped strings, shows some of what cellist Barney Morse-Brown does so well. Classical cello strokes and contemporary improvisation are recorded and layered upon each other to create a musical moment of mind-wandering. At less than two minutes long, the interlude is the perfect melodic introduction to the beat-driven ‘Broken Earth’, tense and taut as it builds momentum and ends in a clash of cello thrashing. James Garrett, percussionist and other half of Duotone, provides the musical framework around which this can happen. Duotone's lyrics are a world of wonder and ‘Turning Pages Over’, with simple guitar and voice, is pure poetry. Although Duotone's live performances are full of style and grace, this song asks to be listened to at home, alone. And that is the overall beauty of Duotone – it is music to rejoice to and music to mull over. Difficult to describe and full of quirks, this album is magical from start to finish.