the mistys: redemption forest

Redemption Forest is the beguiling debut album of recombinant pop from Andrew Hargreaves (The Boats/Tape Loop Orchestra) and Beth Roberts' new duo, The Mistys. The project serves as a vehicle for Andrew and Beth to explore concepts of pop as a subversive medium; a way to communicate ideas other than the usual messages of love and other such frivolities, but in a context that means the listener could still "jitter bug along," even if they missed the point. It's a potent medicine served in the sweetest, even sickliest, sonic syrup, taking inspiration from the classic EBM of Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb, the garage art-pop of Devo, Can's motorik Krautrock, early Yello and Mute singles to create a Neue Burnley Welle ov post-punkish, multi-perplexing pop. Beth's vocals are incredibly saccharine, like Diane Vickers suckled on Eccles cakes and nothing but, and the arrangements almost nauseously overdriven, working infectiously effective hooks, dizzying harmonic developments, and driving industrial noise rhythms. As with Leyland Kirby's best, there's a deeply-rooted sincerity at play and a genuine, abiding love of pop music at its core, refracted thru a complex and ambiguous emotional flux bound to evoke the strangest feelings.