Calling Out of Context

New wave pop with a twist. Russell worked mostly with small ensembles, used electronics often but never heavy-handedly, employed simplicity of form, and made music just on the narrow border between catchy pop and experimentalism. That Russell’s primary instrument is cello and yet one is hard-pressed to identify the sounds of a cello on these songs (except perhaps in the abnormally high-octave basslines) bespeaks the skillful use of FX. The drum programs definitely lend this an 80s sound but even they are so subtly used that the music doesn’t sound jarringly out of date. Russell’s singing meanwhile is barely competent but reserved, again blunting any potential “badness” into a minor foible.

1. Certainly evokes a deer in a forest, as the title has it – tentative, graceful, strong
2. Overlapping vocal bits (waves) over a solid but unspectacular groove (the cold water underneath)
3. Melodic
4. Charming ascents into falsetto singing amid squiggly guitar
5. Blippy pop
6. Vaguely R&B influenced with then pop icon, Jennifer Warnes, helping out
7. Cheesy synth blurps overwhelm the faux-funk and the trombone accents
8. Wan vocals on top of even more wan instro; the saving grace is the catchy synth
9. Slightly more gutsy funk
10. Totally electro drum program and such a polite vocal and gentle chimes; cool FX
11. Stepping a toe over that pop/experimentalism line, AR here is pretty rough with the cello, distorting it into a mildly grinding scrape
12. The “grownups are crazy” line is begging to be recontextualized; otherwise the song is a bit limp