Momus - Bambi

2013 album from the veteran Scottish musical chameleon. One reason Momus has been able to rack up 30 albums in as many years is that he is the quintessential "artist without a style". Lacking any interest in authenticity and equipped with a master-forger's ear for pastiche, Nick Currie has shown himself willing to try everything from cabaret to electronic folk. But following his 2012 collaborations with Joe Howe and David McClymont, Momus remembered that he did have a unique style after all lurking in the murky music of his teenage cassette recordings. Soft yet scratchy, gentle yet urgent, these early compositions used the distinctive sound of a microphone wedged under loose guitar strings, biro-and-anglepoise percussion, and John Cage-style prepared piano. Revived in the 21st century, this post-punk avant-sound gives Bambi a soft charm which at times becomes gently jagged, even primal.