Michael Draine's Twisted Vista
Broadcast
The Future Crayon
(Warp)
In 1997, a collection of EPs titled Work and
Non-Work put Birmingham’s Broadcast on the
analog electronic map. Ten years later, the
18-track The Future Crayon compiles choice
b-sides, compilation cuts and selections
from three EPs, Extended Play (2000),
Extended Play Two (2000), and Pendulum
(2003). Distinguished by a sense of flow
and unity, The Future Crayon captures
Broadcast at their most inventive and
least guarded, coalescing into the group’s
strongest release since their 2000 classic,
The Noise Made by People.
While Trish Keenan’s angelic vocals and
the band’s warm, human approach to sound
synthesis invited comparison to Stereolab,
Broadcast’s primary inspiration lay in the
1969 album by the United States of America.
A formidable catalog of psychedelic ballads
and dreamy electronic interludes, The Future
Crayon sustains plateaus of liquid bliss,
interleaved with piquant jazz accents and
Krautrock sprints. Only a few cuts break the
reflective, ethereal spell; where original		Tim Felton, Trish Keenan, James Cargill
drummer Steve Perkins maintained spare,
lightly brushed syncopation, Pendulum
percussionist Neil Bullock rattles the
laudanum-laced atmosphere. Having shifted		Music Reviews
from the chanteuse of Work and Non-
Work to a more wistful persona, Trish
Keenan’s cool, detached voice merges with
the electromagnetic ebb and flow of analog		Twisted Cinema
keyboards. John Barry’s influence lends
Broadcast a silky sense of danger on tracks
such as “Daves Dream,” which could pass for
a ’60 British science-fiction theme. The
Future Crayon’s lush timbres, autumnal
musings, and drifting instrumentals
culminate in an utterly sublime experience.
Michael Draine
www.warprecords.com
www.broadcast.uk.net