Time Shield (Faux Pas)

The relationship you have with an album as a music writer is an odd and varied thing. Take this record: Tim Shiel, an Australian recently relocated to London, e-mailed me about six weeks ago saying he’d had some radio play on certain programs under his musical alter ego Faux Pas, explaining roughly what he sounded like, and asking if I’d be interested in listening to his record. I thought “What the hell?” and forwarded him my address, asking if he’d send me a full CD copy of it rather than MP3s, because I’d rather hear it properly. Sure enough, a couple of days later it arrived, and I put it in a pile of stuff deemed “interesting.”

Most unsolicited promos get very short shrift: if you send me a tatty CD-R in a paper case with a scrap of paper and a hand-written note, I’ll assume you don’t care enough about what you’re doing to be worth listening to. Faux Pas is a total cottage industry—one guy recording, pressing and releasing his own music—and it’s an example of how to do it right from the bottom up.

Because the joy is that Entropy Begins at Home is actually really good. Shiel mines a seam of sample-based electronica that’s not a million miles away from the likes of Four Tet and Caribou. Production-wise, beats are funky without being over-eager (there’s a deft avoidance of Fatboy Slim-esque idiocy), bass is deep and resonant, treble details pin-point sharp and intriguing, meaning that even though Entropy Begins At Home was put together on a computer, it still sounds more realistic than innumerable recent rock and indie albums.

In his initial e-mail Shiel described his record as being “a mish-mash of afrobeat, jazz, psyche, folk, Casio, and home-recorded guitars,” and it’s difficult to think of a better, more succinct way to put it. The tapestry of instrumental samples he utilizes is rich, tuneful, and sensibly deployed. It's whimsical—and occasionally cerebral—without the sense of fussy isolationism that makes a lot of "folktronica" slightly stand-offish. If anything, Shiel has more in common with hip-hop in terms of his willingness to interpolate a diverse array of genres into a singular vision.

An array of grasshopper-like treble percussion opens “Tema De Cristina,” before being overtaken by more solid beats (reminding slightly of “Like I Love You,” bizarrely), the tune gathers momentum until it reaches a heady climax, pauses, and then reaches it again, more excitingly, by way of flute, organ, guitar, and sundry other sampled instruments. “Apra” is redolent of the more effective vocal tracks from DJ Shadow’s Private Press, while “For the Trees” is a layered guitar symphony with more sections than an insect’s abdomen, and “The New Underground” devolves (or evolves, depending how you look at these things) into shocking, looped free-jazz squalls.

Essentially it’s a psychedelic experience, a musical alchemy intended to depict vivid colors and bizarre patterns, euphoria through altered states of consciousness, and the clarity and directness with which Faux Pas juxtaposes and moves through different strands of music heightens the experience. It’s also, and this is the key part, incredibly pleasurable to listen to, in almost any circumstance.

Nick Southall, stylusmagazine.com

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/faux-pas/entropy-begins-at-home.htm - Stylus Magazine

Last year Tim Shiel self-released a nice little EP called Feels. Since then he has significantly honed his sound, added denisty, depth and new structure to his recordings. Drawing together very audible influences including Caribou/Manitoba, the DFA stable, and Timbaland, Faux Pas pulls together some very sophisticated moves for a second release. Each track glistens and bubbles, the picks being the fantastic chugging Dorothy’s Finger which climaxes in a cascade of drums, Water Into Wine which recalls the voice and production of New Zealander SJD, and the jittery beats and flute-ish Timbaland-meets-Madlib opener Tema De Cristina. Hot and fun.

Seb Chan
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/?p=522 - Cyclic Defrost magazine

"For The Trees" is laptop pop that really wants to be a party jam. Australia's Faux Pas (aka Tim Shiel) cuts-and-pastes big samples with delicately rendered instrumentation. The track is under four minutes long, but packs in a lot-- matador-calling horn samples, something that's probably filed as "official cowbell rhythm track," and three-note keyboard lines. Each mini-hook and variation sounds instantly familiar, whether it's a sample or Shiel himself. He cribs the opening Rhodes line from "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", transposing it up to meet the same key as the song's ringing bell clips, but never abuses it-- covered by three other instruments and samples, it's rendered into pleasant scenery.

**** (4 stars)

Jessica Suarez
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/track_review/40328-for-the-trees - Pitchfork