Album: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (Transgressive)

Andy Gill
Friday 29 May 2009 00:00 BST
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"This is my last song about myself, about my friends; found something else to sing," claims Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson on "Buriedfed", the opening song of this debut album.

It's a promise that remains unfulfilled, as each successive song draws us deeper into the world of Robinson's self-destructive impulses, which vie with songwriting as his greatest gift. A fantasy vision of his own funeral, the song offers us sparsely-sketched tableaux of misfortune, building from simple guitar accompaniment into a sort of raving hootenanny whose closing line – "You can't do any damn thing right" – reinforces the nihilistic self-doubt and artistic self-sabotage that dog the singer's every move.

Robinson draws his influences from a blend of folk, grunge and owes a huge debt to Young's raw, serrated rock style. His equivalent of Crazy Horse comprises guitarist Kyp Malone from TV On The Radio, and drummer Christopher Bear and bassist Chris Taylor, both of Grizzly Bear, but it's Robinson's banked moans and raucous welter of self-loathing that stamps itself most firmly on one's consciousness.

Download this: 'Buriedfed', 'The Ongoing Debate Re: Present Vs. Future', 'Above The Sun'

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