NewVember meets microSCAPE

(Demo CDR)

Thankfully NewVember`s 2001 co-operation with microSCAPE sees them improving greatly & beginning to fullfill their potential. Each band contributes two tracks of their own & reworks one of the other`s songs to make this a full on cooperation & a fruitful one at that. Newvember`s `Through The Rain` opens the disc & it`s immediately obvious that the band have been working hard to improve their sound with a lush, slowly optimistic number that provides much enjoyable listening. Microscape`s version is more techo inspired with pumping rhythms & a handful of ambient touches, mostly in the dreamy, offbeat piano/synth backing. It seems that microscape`s style is a sort of mix of ambient dance & electronic pop as demonstrated by `Blue` (Distant Pop Mix), a slowly evolving but quite powerful piece that shows another promising act at work. Of course, the NewVember boys cover this track & turn it into a lightweight synthpop outing which benefits from some effective sequencing & melodics. Such is the difference in styles that it`s hard to recognise these as versions of the same track. To finish are two live tracks, one by each band which suffer from being slightly better than bootleg quality. First up is Microscape`s dancey `Flora`, followed by NewVember`s `Breathless` which sounds better than it`s previous studio incarnation (although some work on the vocals is still needed!). In itself this is an encouraging sign that NewVember (& indeed, both acts) will be able to eventually fullfill their potential.

Carl Jenkinson