Warm Brains - Let Down / Stone To Sand To Glass

Bands at the moment seem to have found a way of re-imagining early 90s alt-rock, messing around with that sound and creating something that is more than the sum of its influences.

Warm Brains, the solo project of Rory Attwell (best known for being a member of the short lived Test Icicles) is one such act. Taking time out from being the producer and influencer de jour for bands like Male Bonding, Fair Ohs, Teeth!!! and S.C.U.M, he has found time to craft his own album, ‘Old Volcanoes’. This double A-side - ‘Let Down’ / ‘Stone to Sand to Glass’ - is the latest taster to whet the appetite for the record.

‘Let Down’ is a fuzzy alt rocker, all wonky guitars, off kilter drums and girl harmonies (provided by Florence from Paradise). Attwell himself describes it as “upbeat, danceable, messy indie rock that has a hint of melancholy.” He’s got it pretty spot on - this is warm, woozy noise guitar pop that brings to mind J. Mascis, Steve Malkmus and Graham Coxon’s guitar.

‘Stone To Sand To Glass’ is something different completely. Slower, starker and more stripped back, it takes the melancholy Attwell mentions and magnifies it. Spectral vocals are layered on top of each other to produce a dreamy, otherworldly soundscape.

The fact that Attwell can so adeptly handle such disparate styles promises much for the album.