Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 12/05/08
Label: Domino

Adem Ilhan emerges from the bedroom armed with his bag of acoustic musical trinkets for this, his third album, a collection of covers by the cred-drenched cult heroes who soundtracked his 1991-2001 coming of age. There's no such thing as the untouchable song - some covers wipe the floor with the originals (many would happily take arms to defend the right to say, for example, that Kd Lang's "A Case Of You" is better than Joni Mitchell's). Doubtless a subscriber to this view, Ilhan has been slipping unoriginal works into his live shows for a few years and has now committed them to disc.

Generally, they work beautifully. "Takes" opens with short-lived Texan slo-core merchants Bedhead's soporific "Bedside Table" - here all organic jangling loveliness. It's one of the rare tracks where Ilhan sings what was originally a male part. He is undaunted by, PJ Harvey's "Oh My Lover", adopting the reasonable tone of a chap telling his wife it's OK she didn't return the DVD in time, turning the tone of the original on its head: whereas in Harvey's hands lines such as "You can love her at the same time" are ironic and tortured, here they sound like a straight-up offer.

The heavy grunge and sardonic shoulder-shrugging of "Invisible Man" by The Breeders, meanwhile, becomes a magical, xylophone-sprinkled thing you could imagine hearing at a children's party. Admittedly, this gentle Ademnification doesn't work everywhere. There's a certain self-indulgence, and reluctance to innovate, at times - a bare and wistful cover of Bjork's already bare and wistful "Unravel" is pleasant but serves no purpose other than as an act of homage. Indeed, her sweet plea for the constant renewal of love sounds a little needy in Adem's 'sensitive bloke' voice.

Meanwhile, Low's "Laser Beam" is pristine and poignant when delivered via the dignified womanly croon of Mimi Parker but somehow loses impact in Adem's fuller-blooded, heart-on-sleeve approach: "I need your grace" becomes a yelp rather than a quiet imploring. But reworkings of Lisa Germano's "Slide", dEUS's "Worst Case Scenario" and a fusing of Aphex Twin's "To Cure A Weakling Child" and "Boy/Girl Song" succeed, Adem, producing and playing everything, creating a musical fabric as dense and rich as the Bayeux Tapestry.

Here piano, vibraphone, Wurlitzer, Appalachian dulcimer, glockenspiels, ukulele, bells and boxfuls more - including found objects like cups and bike locks - combine with fascinating and rewarding results. All in all, this a whimsical, unhurried and enchanting effort. While predecessor "Love On Other Planets" was obsessed with space - outer space, personal space, all kinds of space - "Takes" draws its inspirations from the marvellous things that can be found in one's own record collection right here on Earth.

    by Anna Britten