Giulio Erasmus has kept himself occupied in the best way possible during the lockdowns. The fruits of this are his first solo offering – ‘Re-Adjustment’. An apt title for the new normal. Whatever that is. As a member of Handle and formerly of Duds he’s never shied away from the esoteric. ‘Re-Adjustment’ truly hammers home that notion.
This woozy, lo-fi set kicks off with the warped waltz of ‘Adjustment’.
The repetitive walking bassline is like someone trapped forever walking the wrong way on a travelator. It’s stuffed with mumbled vocals, sparse noodling guitars, atonal trumpet and strange bangs. These only add to the atmosphere of a drunk singing karaoke over a Tom Waits track.
The lolloping rhythm and computer game pings of ‘A Hole Is Not A Grave’ maintains the surreal ambiance. This neatly melds into the droney underwater soundscape of ‘Tomorrow In Winter’ in which percussive bubbles pop into clarity.
Short instrumental ‘Lang’ is a straightforward repetitive bass piece. It simply serves to accentuate the glorious dubby bassline of ace lead single ‘Collapsed, Speech’.
‘Partyck’ is a more disparate affair. Delayed guitar stabs trip over the bass while clipped percussion pings between the speakers. It’s kind of like a fucked up version of one of those jazzy Twin Peaks soundtrack pieces.
Following this, ‘Varied In Themes’ sounds like a slowed down circuit bent version of The Rebel. Perhaps a little of The Residents in there too.
This strangest of albums comes to a close with its title track.
An oscillating drone and tribal percussion back duelling vocals in English and French, because why not?
With ‘Re-Adjustment’ Giulio Erasmus has produced one of the most gloriously peculiar albums you will hear this year.
Out now via Absolute Fiction
You may enjoy this if you like: Handle, Duds, The Residents, The Rebel
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