Eccentronic Research Council – Magpie Billy & the Egg that Yolked (A Study of the Northern Ape in Love)

There are types of music that are so heavily entwined with a particular location it becomes almost impossible to talk of one without alluding to the other. Detroit has its techno, Berlin has its minimal and San Francisco has its psych. Other places that, while perhaps not having associations with a particular musical style, have such a distinct identity it wouldn’t be hard to imagine what might come from it. There is something so inherently Northern about The Eccentronic Research Council’s latest, Magpie Billy & the Egg That Yolked (A Study of the Northern Ape in Love), that there’s little chance it could be from anywhere else.

Of course it couldn’t, what with Maxine Peake’s tremendously thick accent narrating the story of Magpie Billy, with all of its references to chippies, boozers and people named Deirdre. But its Northernness is there in subtler, more intangible ways. It’s characterised in the melancholic, yet sardonic instrumentation, the knowing melodrama of the harpsichords and organs and above all the complete and utter celebration of misery.

Anyone who has ever met someone from the great Northern reaches (or, indeed, has the pleasure of being one) can tell you that these are mannerisms those from the right side of the Watford Gap relish in having. But to see this is as a singularly Northern effort would be myopic. The breadth of its external influences, from the minimal synth work of “French Cold Wave” to its carnivalesque “Waltzes”, give the album a constantly shifting sonic palette. The variety showcased makes the album feel a lot shorter than its 30 minute runtime.

While comparisons can often be overly reductive, perhaps that there are so few with which to compare this album says quite a lot about it. The most immediate and perhaps closest point of reference is fellow Sheffield natives Broadcast, the lo-fi, sawtooth synth sounds recalling Tender Buttons but pushes them into stranger more esoteric locations. While obviously heavily indebted to it, it would be difficult to really class Magpie Bill…y as Pop or any of its mutant progeny. Krautrock, psych and movie soundtracks all meet in the melting pot to produce something that is, while not always perfect, impossible to resist. I’s uniqueness of sound, vision and identity mark it as a very rare bird indeed.

Visit the Eccentronic Research Council on Bandcamp.