Severant by Kuedo – the perfect soundtrack to this beautiful winter

Amidst a week of hail and sleet, facing the kind of cold concrete scapes that make it necessary to perma-wear your fella’s hoodie, I discovered at last some new music to inspire me.

Being inclined towards the over-dramatics, I am not happy (aka moved or in fact moving) unless a suitable soundtrack is playing alongside my life. Yes, I did watch too many films in the 80s. I watched my Back To The Future video EVERY Saturday (capitals mean truthfulness), without fail, right after Going Live and before our weekly trip to the market for shopping. Consequently I have an 80s inspired (this can and does also include late 70s) soundtrack standard by which to live my life by.

This can be very difficult to maintain on a day-to-day basis and does often leave me flat and lacking – like the washing I left in my machine for over a week – until I make my next musical discovery.

But, alas and hurrah a discovery I made, whilst sat in my frosty stoffice (that isn’t a spelly it’s my studio/office) looking into things to do in Berlin (where I fancy jaunting me and my other good half off to).  With the snow outside looking very ‘special effects’ as it constantly falls yet fails entirely to settle, I found Kuedo, the first suitable soundtrack contender to cross my path for a couple of weeks.

I recently did a set of photographs (exploring the concept of journey focusing on exposure, movement and layer, if you want to know) also inspired by the winter landscape/Berlin research thing. Think Communist Retro Chic (though if you happen to google this do not let your auto-correct add a k onto the end of the last word, the results you get will be disturbingly off the mark), based in Manchester and you will be half way there. Like a pair of tatty gloves on your cold sorrowful fingers, Kuedo fit right into this industrial winter vibe.

Based currently in Berlin (which is how I found it among the virtual apartments and café bars), Kuedo is the debut solo project of Jamie Teasdale, one half of Dub Step duo Vex’d. I’ve since searched their back catalogue and I think they will soundtrack some of my early Spring, the lucky buggers. But back to Kuedo, the album, Severant, released October 2011, contains 15 fantastically, beautiful and introspective tracks. The overall sound is that of pure, analogue-synth-style joy.

Opening with Visioning Shared Tomorrows, the tone is set as that of downbeat electronica that is both sharp and emotive. By the second track, Ant City, what begins to develop is nothing short of the worthy hybrid-love-child of the Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis at his best (when is he not?) and 1984.

At it’s brightest, as in Scissors, Kuedo layers the delicate, synth lead, extremely reminiscent of Carly Simon’s Why, over chopping helicopter-esque broken up beats. In fantastic high contrast (I am thinking pictorially here), Ascension Phase falls like electronic rain on a dystopian, sci-fi street – full of suspicious Androids or Replicants and broken humans with ironic 1950’s hairdos. I recently re-watched the narrator-less Directors Cut of Blade Runner and the whole cold, urban atmosphere could be perfectly transcribed through Kuedo into Severant for me to play on repeat for my entire winter.

Putting my bleak soundtrack obsession aside, Severant should not be dismissed in any way as one-dimensional. Kuedo successfully explores all shades of the monochromatic spectrum with a variety of beats and synths that, just as you think you are sitting comfortably, catch you again by surprise. He balances the warmth and beauty of the most spectacular, analogue synth sounds with the thin intricacy of modern machines.

I’ve had Severant on constant loop for a full week now and it’s showing no sign of dulling my easily bored brain yet. It certainly offers a sonic space that you can let your mind and body wander to. It will more than suit a mind searching for excitement during this bleak season (though I can well imagine me loving it just as much once the sun shines). But for now, with boots on and collars upturned, or looking from the inside out recalling the cosy misery of inside play at school, Severant by Kuedo will suit the mood like icy hands holding a mug of tea. Overall Severant is as refreshing as rain – viewed through 3D glasses.

Today I read: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Today I watched: Red Dwarf Series 1 Episode 6
Today I listened to: Severant by Kuedo, along with…
                                Feel It Break by Austra,
                                Lights and Offerings by Mirrors,
                               The Drummer and The Fox by Niki & The Dove,
                               Hearts by I Break Horses
                               Memory Thunderstorm by Mozart Parties (more reviews to come soon).
I cannot recommend this combination enough. This is my new playlist of bliss. Thank the calendar it’s weekend coz i’m in a rather jazzy mood!

One of the images from my Journey collection – exploring the concept of journey focusing on exposure, movement and layer