IE are based in Minneapolis, a city which, in the collective psyche, may not be spontaneously associated with underground DIY music culture like Montreal or Berlin, but which clearly knows how to nurture some very interesting fruit. Reverse Earth is probably the band’s most accessible album to date. Whereas their previous ones were full of experimentation, drone and a certain saturation of sound, this one has a more airy atmosphere. I’m a big fan of their earlier work, which continues to impress me, but Reverse Earth marks a subtle, if noticeable, and above all refreshing change of approach.
You’ll quickly become immersed in the pleasure of listening to these five electro panoramas, all lightness and light-hearted pulsation. If the term underground gives you an impression of darkness, this underground is, on the contrary, bathed in a beautiful, if sometimes subtle, clarity, with scattered sparkles punctuating the basic framework with sparkling flashes (excepted in “Dark Rome,” clearly urban nocturne in nature). A ghostly post-Cocteau Twins voice (Mariel Oliveira) hovers above the fray, a vaguely jazz flute occasionally swirls around the beats, bass and bongos ensure the solidity of the rhythmic lines while the keyboard adds textural strokes and patches to the whole. A very nice upbeat chill promenade.
Michael Gallope, keyboards
Meredith Gill, drums
Sam Molstad, guitar and bongos
Mariel Oliveira, bass, vocals, flute
Travis Workman, guitar and keyboards
