Both Ernest Greene's real name and artistic moniker sound like tired-out Pynchonian punchlines, especially given the guy's tendency so far for making sly robo-pop. The few (self-) released contributions from this South Carolinian have a homespun synthesizer arrangements and multi-tracked, faraway vocals that sound something like, say, the theme music to an instructional video from 1987. "Feel It All Around" serves as the natural progression from "You'll See It", the ravey little slab of diffident lo-fi pop reviewed by Pitchfork earlier this year, by bringing the curtain down on the little party suggested by "You'll See It".
In fact, Greene seems to operate in a nexus of clubby little referents. Brief stabs of dub drums cheat into the mix. The synthesizers that drive the arrangement sound cheap and liquored-up, but are impeccably paced like a pour of great molasses. Somewhere, echoes of 10cc's breathy "I'm Not In Love" enter the picture, as does YMO's churning bass exploration "Naughty Boys". Greene seems dedicated to mapping a musical history that never actually existed but seems meticulously seen: a historical fiction re-imagining a lifetime of easy listening. Although Greene makes primarily keyboard-based music, his vision is stuck somewhere in an imagined euphoria set after the art rock of the late 70s, with a dotted line drawn directly through the swath of synth pop and all the way to the psychedelic, guitar driven Brit-pop of the Stone Roses.
But leave the slippery musicology behind. "Feel It All Around" is a deliciously unbalanced track, starting into the groove right off the bat and unexpectedly fading out at the end. The unusual compositional style is tailor-made to entice you to spin it again, and Greene's little gem does little to convince you otherwise.
Listen to "Feel It All Around" by Washed Out here:
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