Album Review: Actress - R.I.P.

An album from an ex-West Brom player who started out as a DJ then decided to produce using a Roland Groovebox and a dictaphone. How religious could this album possibly get? There's no choral singing but it's a biblical narrative that takes in death, accession, blessing and a well earned journey across a purgatorial landscape at which you have to avoid temptation all before being thrown back down to Earth.

Every now and then everyone listens to an album that has a real effect on them (this will happen to you if it hasn't already). It's one of those albums that really stands out for you. For me this was Actress recent album  'R.I.P.' Also known as Darren Cunningham this South London based producer started out by releasing music on his own Werk Discs before signing up to Blur frontman Damon Albarn's imprint Honest Jon's.

This album has all sorts thrown into it and I wouldn't know where to place it. With technoid thudding tracks like 'Marble Plexus' and 'Shadow From Tartarus' to the disco sounding 'Iwaad'. On 'Uriel's Black Harp' plucked notes play over the top of what sound like crickets chirping at night, but it sounds epic.

Strangely enough these tracks do not invoke any euphoria in me, I don't want to go and throw some shapes to these tunes. But maybe this is the beauty of the album. It all seems a little alien to me, yet I feel that this is the source of it's power.


My favourite track from the album:

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