Music:
Member Since: 09/09/2007
Band Members: Thom - All noise
Influences: Mum, Sigur Ros, Yann Tiersen, Django Reinhardt, Radiohead, Muse, Red Snapper, Mogwai, Blonde Redhead, Kent, Elliot Smith, Soulwax, Jeff Buckley, Rothko, Mice Parade, Gerardo Nunez, Godspeed, Do Make Say Think, Bell Orchestre, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawkin, Knut Hamsun, George Orwell, Franz Kafka, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Amelie, Sweet and Lowdown, David Attenborough, Michael Palin, Philip Pullman, Richard Dawkins, Iceland, Scandinavia, Northern Scotland, The Wilderness, Open Spaces, Snow, Rain, Canals, Rivers, Hideouts, Trees, Free Food, Thermos Flasks of Coffee, The absence of TV, Evolution, Unrationalisable Emotions, All Those People Considered Friends.
Sounds Like: www.arlequins.it
Musica dalle tinte pastorali, crepuscolari e malinconiche, Boat Club è il mini cd d'esordio di Thom Smith, alias Analogue I/O, un musicista inglese che ha dedicato le proprie inclinazioni artistiche ad un ambient music melodica e contemporanea che trae parte della propria ispirazione dalle atmosfere rarefatte e tenui di formazioni come Mùm, Sigur Ròs, Mogwai e di musicisti come Yann Tiersen e Roger Eno. Se siete cultori di un certo tipo di sonorità immagino che non avrete troppa difficoltà ad entrare in sintonia con le atmosfere scaturite dai cinque brani di questo ep: in bilico fra folk intimista, musica da camera ed elettronica minimale, Thom Smith dà prova di avere la sensibilità giusta per comunicarci sensazioni, poetiche, positive e molto delicate... In particolare i momenti migliori si possono trovare negli spazi acustici per chitarra e pianoforte come in Almost There e la conclusiva Adventure. L'utilizzo dell'elettronica non è particolarmente invasiva, l'impressione generale è quella di una musica artigianale, realizzata con pochi mezzi e molto cuore. Si prevedono prossimi sviluppi per Analogue I/O: incrociando le dita, con la maturità e la giusta esperienza acquisita Thom Smith potrebbe regalarci in futuro momenti di grande spessore artistico.
Luna Kafe 20/05/08
Analogue I/O is a one man studio project created by Thom Smith, who's into ambient tape music with a dark (film noir for the modern age? Well, maybe more like some new French 'nouvelle vague') cinematic feel. This debut 5-song EP Boat Club is ambient of the good and creative kind - not the stuff that makes you sleepy.
Boat Club was recorded in Smith's own studio and shows both beauty and temper. Imagine a (much) more chilled out Mogwai (unplugged as well), or even Beirut (as in some of the stuff from the latest album) signed to the Constellation label, inspired by those Canadians. F.i. as with the track "Rough Loops". Opening track "Almost There" is a brittle and delicate piece of swaying, dreamy ambient pop. Perfectly flavoured with 'musical box' and brass effects. "81 Bridge" has a very romantic mood, without getting sticky or pompous. The slowly looping atmosphere and tranquil moments are most pleasing. The sound throughout the EP is rich and warm, and it seems Smith's quite a multi-instrumentalist. By listening to Boat Club you'll get the feeling of seeing his music flicker by as many frames per second. The cine-feeling is quite obvious and present. Enjoy, with the lights out.
Analogue I/O is indeed a positive new acquaintance. Check Thom Smith's music on the Myspace site or from the record label Skyeyesea. You can download stuff for free. Or you can pay, which I recommend to do.
Plugin Music
Analogue I/O's debut EP "Boat Club" sails by on a lonely sea. A very open and lonely sea that seems ideally suited for some crisply shot yet mysterious art film. Piano melodies gently find their way amongst rich ambient noise that twinkles one moment and rushes by like a gust of wind the next. Quietly dominated by such full instrumentation that makes itself known with an understated air, "Boat Club" is full of character.
Sounds Like: Ambient acoustic you can tell your friends is from a hip foreign film they've never heard of
Key Tracks: "Rough Loops"
B+
Leonards Lair 12/04/08
Crafted by one-man outfit Thom Smith, the debut EP by Analogue I/O shows how possible it is to create music on your own whilst still employing a vast array of instruments and effects. ‘Boat Club’ initially seems quite mournful but the mixture of instruments of both the acoustic and electronic variety is full of colour and imagination.
‘Almost There’ is a sombre beginning but thanks to its inspired collaboration of chimes, piano, guitar and shimmering electronica, there’s also plenty of warmth on display. A similar layered approach is used for ‘81 Bridge’ as the music moves close to shoegazing territory. By the end - for the aptly-titled ‘Subtle Adventure’ - we’ve reached the sparest of the five tracks as the elegant piano melody approaches classical music. If you think of Múm without those sometimes annoying childish voices, you wouldn’t be far away from the sound of Analogue I/O. The whole EP can be downloaded for free (for one week only) from the Analogue I/O web site, starting from its release date on the 28th April.
The-Rocker 07/04/08
The Analogue I/O Port allows a controller to monitor 8 analogue inputs and generate 2 analogue outputs in a 0 - 5 Volt range. Just so you know. This Analogue I/O is Thom Smith and he is an ambient musician. The music that is. He could be a right crotchety shouter. Who knows.
The technical gubbins says that this EP is a culmination of loops fused with digitally processed found-sounds and an array of acoustic instruments occasionally accompanied by synths and beats. Which means it sounds real purty as he undergoes an attempt to capture the images of distant landscapes and far away places. I like distant landscapes and far away places. Especially at the seaside. The Viking blood and the lure of the water, no doubt.
I actually went to the bother of taking this to the seaside to watch the sun set one evening, and it was a marvellous accompaniment. Especially '81 Bridge' which just cleanses your mind of impurities. A delight. Yer man says he's influenced by the likes of Sigur Ros, Radiohead and Mogwai, all of whom I despise, so well done to him for not soundling like any of them.
Record Label: Skyeyesea
Type of Label: Indie
