Material: IndianRedLopez - Prometheus
Sometimes it’s difficult to believe musicians are real people. It’s difficult to imagine that they live the same life you do, buy stuff from the same shop round the corner, or, in my case, use the same recording studio.
IndianRedLopez are four pretty cool dudes from the same city as me. This track was produced and mixed by award-winning Aberdonian producer Iain Macpherson, the same guy who produced my own album. The difference is, though, this group show how better input can get much, much better output.
“Prometheus”, then, begins with filtered light drumming before the electronics kick in, and by then you’re aware this song is going to be lingering in your ear for a good while. The jittery synth is overlaid with soft guitar and some rather odd-sounding percussion, as though they’ve been let loose in a primary school’s music department.
Mike Chang’s voice is just as velvety as it always seems to be, which unfortunately doesn’t seem to suit the heavier sections of this tune; the music consistently sounds like it’s saving his voice from cracking. Fortunately, he’s thrown a lifeline in the choruses as what I can only assume are his bandmates shout along with him in the background, adding texture to proceedings.
The production is deliciously kept just a little bit lo-fi - it even manages to make a guitar solo sound like a Game Boy’s pre-death soliloquy, if such a thing were possible. The song builds up beautifully to a very strong final third which makes the initial pussyfooting all worthwhile…
The song’s available to buy through Bedford Record’s Bandcamp, and comes with a (in my opinion, far better) B-side, “The Third (Incision)” as well as a sweet remix of “An Iron Fist” by local fella Ryan Davidson. Listen to the lot below.
