There is a moment, right at the start, just as the song is bedding in, that you get the slight sense that Sean MacLeod might be offering us a Christmas song, such is the chiming percussion and bell-like sonics being ushered in. But you soon realise that this is the result not of seasonal sentiment or cheery conformity, but of a more interesting, avant-garde, experimental, and almost exotically oriental world-music-sounding platform he has used to drive “I Know Not.”
And this new single, taken from That’s When the Earth Becomes a Star, is undoubtedly a song of hidden depths, layering, and lush, often odd textures. There is an authentic ’60s feel running along the top, a nostalgia-echoing psych-pop groove, soaked in doo-wop harmonies and boogiesome vibes. He throws in a middle eight that doesn’t go where you think it would, which is perfectly in keeping with the keep ‘em guessing nature of the song in general.
It’s the best of both worlds, holding as much interest for the musicologist as for the discerning music fan who is happier to take music at face value. Definitely the work of a musician’s musician; those inclined to do so will find much to unpick, debate, question, and marvel at. As for the rest of us, for all its interesting, perhaps occasionally odd, sonic choices, you are still going to feel the urge to dance around the room like a loon when it comes on.
Now that’s clever.
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