Manyfingers - Our Worm Shadow

Manyfingers (aka multi-instrumentalist Chris Cole) emerged out of the shady and mysterious Bristol scene that spawned the likes of Flying Saucer Attack, Movietone, Third Eye Foundation and Amp. Previously best known as Third Eye Foundation luminary Matt Elliott's right hand man, cellist and drinking buddy, Cole has also been a sometime member of legendary pastoralists Movietone as well as being the current drummer of the excellent post rock band Soeza. Cole's relative obscurity is set to change with the release of his full length debut album Our Worn Shadow, a magnificently ambitious multi layered gem of a record. He plays piano, drums, cello, Spanish guitar, accordion, vibraphone and other assorted instruments to create a veritable whirlwind of sound. The record takes it's cue from the Fourtet of Pause and Rounds (taking in along the way influence from US based hip hop futurists Dosh and Machine Drum) but adds Yann Tiersen style accordion and string arrangements played with the intensity of Godspeed You Black Emperor! At their ground shaking best. The cyclical motifs of Philip Glass and Steve Reich are notable ensuring that the album presses all the right neo classical buttons, often comparable to the best work of Max Richter, Rachel's, Sylvain Chauveaux and Terry Reilly. The record is impressive for the variety of melody and sounds produced, the consistently imaginative string and horn arrangements, subtle sampling and frenzied, frenetic drumming. Comes with a bonus track and an accompanying DVD. The DVD is the perfect accompaniment to this CD. Intimately filmed at the Cube, Bristol's legendary arthouse cinema, it documents in detail how Manyfingers carefully layers up vast arrays of instruments to create his hypnotic masterpieces.