BEAT PYRAMID
These New Puritans | WIG207 | Released: 28/01/08
These New Puritans, a band of four friends from Southend, UK, are Jack Barnett (vocals, guitar), his twin brother George (drums), Thomas Hein (bass, sampler) and Sophie Sleigh-Johnson (synth, sampler). Since their inception in October 2006, These New Puritans have released the limited edition Now Pluvial EP overseas and created the 15-minute "Navigate, Navigate" to be the soundtrack for Hedi Slimane's Autumn 2007 for Dior Homme's catwalk show in Paris, all the while earning a strong reputation for their furious live shows. Beat Pyramid is the next phase in their hyperbolic progression.
Recorded alongside Gareth Jones, producer of albums by Einsturzende Neubaten, Liars and Wire's most electronica inspired albums, Beat Pyramid's songs are an ever-mutating blur of brash chords, subtle details and taut rhythms, born of influences as varied as Sonic Youth and dubstep, This Heat and Greek pottery, David Lynch and Dr. Feelgood, J Dilla and the 16th century occultist John Dee. The songs on Beat Pyramid have an immediacy that belies their complex themes: "Numbers" is typical of the band’s output, marrying themes of medieval numerology to pop choruses and a colossal dub-step drum loop.
"Infinitytinifni" is a celebration of the melting of the polar ice-caps set to one chord and three drums; "Swords Of Truth" is centered around a dancehall-ish beat with cut-up drums, named after the terrorist cell linked with the kidnap of BBC journalist Alan Johnson, that may or may not also have been written in homage to the Wu-Tang Clan.
The first (and last) thing you'll hear on the album, however, is a strange, dislocated voice. "We started off with just this voice; this fragment of voice saying 'I Will Say This Twice, I Will Say This Twice' – that was the mystery," says Jack. The idea was to create a continuously revolving album that has no beginning or end. Additionally, "We wanted to make a pyramid with our sound. Cutting, carving a pyramid out of the air waves – like the sounds pulsing through the air and carving out a pyramid structure. It took on a lot of other meanings, and you can hear them all in the album. It has all the secrets, labyrinths and tunnels that a pyramid has."
"Infinitytinifni" is a celebration of the melting of the polar ice-caps set to one chord and three drums; "Swords Of Truth" is centered around a dancehall-ish beat with cut-up drums, named after the terrorist cell linked with the kidnap of BBC journalist Alan Johnson, that may or may not also have been written in homage to the Wu-Tang Clan.
The first (and last) thing you'll hear on the album, however, is a strange, dislocated voice. "We started off with just this voice; this fragment of voice saying 'I Will Say This Twice, I Will Say This Twice' – that was the mystery," says Jack. The idea was to create a continuously revolving album that has no beginning or end. Additionally, "We wanted to make a pyramid with our sound. Cutting, carving a pyramid out of the air waves – like the sounds pulsing through the air and carving out a pyramid structure. It took on a lot of other meanings, and you can hear them all in the album. It has all the secrets, labyrinths and tunnels that a pyramid has."
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