Did anyone out there listen to Manitoba's 2001 debut LP, 'Start Breaking My Heart?' If not, you missed a corker of an album. Propelled by honest self-expression and some serious playfulness, it's author decorated the affair with a whimsical mix of gently coruscating acoustics and pleasantly subverted electronica.
Those that missed out need not fret, as the man behind the Manitoba moniker - Daniel Snaith - is back, with more of the same. 'Up In Flames' is, as its title suggests, a hot little number.
Like his good friend Four Tet (Keiran Hebden, for whose Text imprint Snaith recorded a superlative 7 inch recently), Snaith loves to throw himself elbows-first into all forms of technology and instrumentation, muddling everything together with a delightfully capricious glee.
The resultant sounds are impossible to pigeonhole. Or to predict. Frogs croak, urgent trumpets squeak deliriously, random rim shots bark. It all gives the impression that this is some kind of latter day 'musique concrete' experiment. But though Manitoba's constructions are joyously slap-dash and defiantly experimental, he still manages to lure the listener in with woozy melodies and strangely beguiling textures.
There is no denying that this second LP is a more confident outing. Manitoba uses his own voice a lot more this time around for starters, as well as enlisting some vocals from his mysterious friend Koushik Ghosh. Between them they manage to sound like a cross between the Beach Boys and the Inspiral Carpets.
Alongside the sweet harmonics and playful noises, we are also presented with some serious psychedelic rock workouts to think about, as well as the occasional excursion into more sinister realms (try Skunk). 'Up In Flames', in fact, leaves no stone unturned in the producer's quest to create something original and endlessly surprising. Which is what makes this such an essential LP.
