Album Review: Standish/Carlyon - Deleted Scenes

It's hard to attribute any one sound to the debut offering of local duo Standish/Carlyon. What makes it so difficult is the total opposite of what you'd expect; instead of overtly parading an array of influences, the arrangements throughout Deleted Scenes are so minimal that it's hard to capture exactly what it is that propels the album. Whatever it is, it's there and it's undeniably sleek.

While it's generally agreed upon that listening to an album is infinitely better with a pair of headphones, Deleted Scenes is an instance where it really should be mandatory (or, at the very least, listened to through a great set of speakers). The production makes up a great portion of the glossy atmosphere, but to capture just how immaculate it is, there needs to be real attention to detail. Even in moments of apparent silence there's never an absence of sound, as the low rumbling bass fills up all the empty spaces. The best example of this is in Industrial Resort and the album's closing track 2 5 1 1 (a collaboration with Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons), when Conrad Standish's carefully integrated vocals cease and the prominent synth lines found in tracks like Nono/Yoyo and Moves, Moves are removed.

Deleted Scenes constantly contradicts itself in all the best and most mind-boggling ways. It's futuristic yet strangely nostalgic, silence is a sound; hell, even the distant lyrics don't make sense but somehow ring true. What Standish/Carlyon have created is not an album, but a work of aural art.