Anna Meredith - Varmints (Moshi Moshi) 2016
8
“Nautilus” begins Varmints with a rallying fanfare on repeat, akin to Philip Glass lost in a time loop as battering ram beats begin to smash through sturdy wooden doors. It would make the perfect soundtrack for a giant behemoth-like submarine rising from the depths of the ocean to wage war. Yet, despite her background in classical composition, this collection of music from Meredith is very much an assembly of song types. “Taken” is knottily intelligent indie-pop, “Scrimshaw” a cello-driven electro elegy which rises in mournful triumph before self-combusting into scattershot pulses and “Something Helpful” twinkles like early Aphex with choir girl vocals lending it a Young Marble Giants feel. Varmints is the perfect title for this grab-bag and deliberately incohesive assortment of songs which exist in separate dimensions from one another and find themselves forced to interact.