Album Review

Half Cousin – The Absentee

• 8th Nov 2007

Scottish act, Half Cousin is basically the work of one man: Kevin Cormack.

Electro-folk, or as they have described themselves: Acousmatic, think Super Furry Animals fused with Hot Chip. Having produced a sound that is so D.I.Y. and minimalist, you are struck with awe at just how beautifully delicate they seem.

‘The Absentee’ is taken from Cormack’s second batch of studio offerings released as album, ‘Iodine’. It is the follow-up from debut album, ‘The Function Room’, which proved largely successful with the cult crowd.

‘The Absentee’ is indeed a strangely special single, as it starts like its being played through backwards accompanied with an array of instruments being tossed about like a big old salad bowl of musical oddities and ideas. You’ll find it random, chaotic but served-up perfectly. (You can never have a bad salad!)

Shout-out to the remixes: Zero 7 sister project, Ingrid ETO sends the track into a spacey and digitised territory, the Justus Köhncke gives it a brash, pulsating and very New Order feel to it. Although, my favourite was the folksy, quirky and downright bizarre remix by Fujiya and Miyagi.

It’s an instant standout record and you’ll love it as quickly as I did.