Part Time Signals – Duck’s Back, Baby

Description

The band say, “We’ve been quietly chipping away at this album for a few years, assembling it piece by piece since the initial studio session. In its essence it’s a collection of songs that reflect some of the many aspects of the human condition, and listening from start to finish there are plenty of dots to be connected.”

Their new album showcases plenty of variety from start to finish, taking you on a journey through the different sides of the band. The opening track emerges to signal the beginning as Green Light shines through, proceeding with swooping melodies and cathartic harmonies, setting the tone for the album to come. The band cut through the frivolities of their second single Duck’s Back with brutally distorted guitars, doubled drums and angular saxophones on Stare At The Square, before leaping back to moments of melancholic poise in Song For A Rainy Day, sending off the first half of the album in style. They then set the scene in the second half with a reduced instrumental interlude that flows seamlessly into the gentle serenade of Dancing In The Night. From these gentle pairings, through to the analogue drum machines and varispeed drums in Paper Thin, to the slow-burning build in Dreaming, Duck’s Back, Baby finishes with the urge to hit play and listen all over again.

With the main recording session being the band’s first time recording in a professional studio together, they explored the extensive instrumentation and equipment at hand to create different textures and atmospheres, further developing their sound. During subsequent sessions back in Cardiff, the band recorded additional performances from David Newington (vibraphone), Rhodri Brooks (pedal steel) and Stephen Black (clarinet, flute, saxophones).