Department M announce the release of their self-titled mini album through fierce panda today (Monday 16th December). Led by Owen Brinley, formerly the frontman of Grammatics, the Leeds-based quartet fully explore their expansive indie/electronic palette over the eight tracks on offer.
As part of fierce panda's Pandamonium festival, Department M are headlining a special free entry show at The Old Blue Last on Friday 10th January. They are also giving away a free MP3 of the song 'J-Hop' from the album over on SoundCloud
"Brinley's falsetto sweeps around clattering electro-industrial synths and beats, and gracefully softens their edges" - 7/10, NME
"A band at the top of their game" - DIY
"Spellbinding" - The Line Of Best Fit
"A grand piece of dark-pop" - The 405
"Lean and consistently engaging" - 8/10, Drowned in Sound
DEPARTMENT M come from Leeds in the North of Englandshire. Ostensibly a creative vehicle for one Owen Brinley, they have spent the past year cautiously, yet crunchingly, developing a fascinating, fizzing sound which combines the heroic synths of yesteryear with a cutting contemporary electro sensibility. Depeche Mode, Air, Talk Talk, Cabaret Voltaire and - of course - ELO are just some of the names referenced in their company, and fair play too - Owen Brinley is decidedly not a man afraid of a saxophone solo. Bolstered by a four person-strong live line-up this is an act which can straddle the divide between the shiny retro-obsessed Classic Pop magazine and the cool dark alleyways of modern East London.
They have previous, do Department M: in March they released the 'I'll Fax You An Apology' / 'Black Boutique' single on local label Hide & Seek. In June they released the 'The Second Prize' / 'Absentia' single through Too Pure. This handy Department M mini-album brings together most of the songs on those first two releases, throws in future single'Miscellany' - due out in January 2014 - adds a couple more toweringly sombre tunes and waits for the light to come pouring out of the sky. It is being released on the monumentally illogical date of December 16th because a) a similar version of the EP is being released on Rallye Records in Japan in November, b) because we could and c) because it's a timely way to end the first chapter in the Department M story.
So how did we get here? Legend already has it that Owen's career took a completely different turn when he put down his guitar and picked up a Roland Juno-60, the classic keyboard that defined the sound of the likes of '80s hair bears A Flock Of Seagulls, and all of a sudden his nascent electronic influences burst to the forefront of his writing. No less interestingly, his career as DJ and binge drinker in several Leeds nightclubs had him suffering from the onset of Hyperacusis, an acute over-sensitivity to certain frequency ranges. Something to keep his well-developed tinnitus company, but not something to keep him out of the studio.
These conditions over time created a tension which arguably informed the lyrical and musical elements which saw Owen mould the Department Msound alongside local long term collaborator James Kenosha. Unsurprisingly, phrases like "abrasive beauty" and "brutalist pop economy" tend to be bandied about Department M's music, for theirs is a world of overdriven hip-hop drum loops crashing against smooth swathes of analogue synthesiser, where the beefiest of rhythms collide with the sweetest of vocals.
TRACKLISTING:
1. Visitor
2. pHARMACY
3. I'll Fax You An Apology
4. J-Hop
5. The Second Prize
6. Miscellany
7. Absentia
8. SleepWalker
LIVE: Fri 10th Jan @ The Old Blue Last, London
LINKS:
www.deptm.co.uk
www.soundcloud.com/departmentm
www.facebook.com/departmentmband
www.fiercepanda.co.uk