Following on from their highly acclaimed debut album House, UK States return after a two year absence with Psychogeography. Fundamentally the fourteen tracks here are all home recordings but with an added (psycho)geographical twist – see what I did there? Having fled the city lights of London to find a new home in Australia, pedal steel extroadinare Jolyon Gray was forced to record his parts with a little help from his broadband connection. A lengthy process ensued which found the remaining members of the group cutting and pasting their backing tracks whilst at home in London. The alt-country equivalent of The Postal Service then? Well maybe, but first we’ll swap the blips and beeps of Tamberrello and Gibbard and replace them with the gentle, sparse acoustic backing of scratchy mandolin, softly strummed acoustic and a sprinkle of bittersweet cynicm via the pen of Christian Lewcock and Toby Carter.

Opening with the outstanding “I Have No Legs”, the mood is instantly subdued. The brittle, almost deadbeat lyrics are lifted and carried along by the infectious backing of mandolin and harmonica. It finds Lewcock and Carter in a rather defeatist mode as they sulk through the lines “my bottle has broke, my metal has been crushed, my one eye’s on the blink” it’s only when they add “my spunk is up the wall” that you find yourself smirking. Not in a childish way I hasten to add, it just makes realise that they’re more than likely taking the piss out of themselves.

One thing that is apparent, almost instantly, on this record is the lack of drums. It’s quite refreshing too, as after a while you just don’t miss them at all. Opting for a more “pots and pans” approach, UK States use cassette cases, wooden spoons, and their sock drawer (seriously) to add the percussive element, and it works a treat. As with a lot of “bedroom” recordings though, you rarely get the quality and sheen found in a professional studio. Everything is a little more amateurish, off the cuff, sloppy even. But with UK States this only acts as a good thing. The sense of depth to the songs is a joy to behold.

It isn’t a record that’s instantly accessible though. After my first couple of listens I was dreadfully let down. My brain switching off after the half way mark, leaving the remaining songs to merge into one. I only really “got” this record after I listened in a different setting. The long commute home on the train found itself to be the perfect companion to Psychogeography. It allowed me to concentrate on what was going on underneath the surface. With no distractions, the startling beauty of “This Island Was Manmade” and “Winter Rose” revealed themselves as album highlights. In retrospect, my original opinion was probably not helped by the ill placing of second track, the Carter penned “Jessie Found A Baby Cow”. It’s by far the weakest thing here. Even after repeated plays I still find myself reaching for the skip button. This little niggle is soon ironed out with the moving “Surrounded By Darkness” which, in a way, acts as the antithesis of Paul McCartney’s crass mandolin workout “Dance Tonight”, whilst “Be Brazil” finds the UK States in a suitably apt Bossa Nova guise.

Fans of alternative country would be wise to investigate immediately. This really is a gem of a record that could, and should, see UK States take a place amongst their peers in the (not as bad as you might think) UK Americana scene.
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Links
UK States [official site] [myspace]