''Popular Mechanics'' is the debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

band

Piano Magic Piano Magic was a musical collective formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England. Their sound has been described as ambient pop, post-rock, indietronica, dark wave, "arty baroque pop" and " ...

. It was originally released in 1997 on I/ Ché Trading records and then again by

Rocket Girl Rocket Girl is a London-based independent record label. It has released records by Robin Guthrie, Pieter Nooten, God Is an Astronaut, Ulrich Schnauss, A Place to Bury Strangers, Bell Gardens (band), Bell Gardens among others, including many a ...

in 2003. It was recorded in North London by founding members Glen Johnson and Dominic Chennell with contributions from passing friends. At the time, Johnson and Chennell claimed the album to be influenced by the early music of

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

and

Brothers Quay Stephen and Timothy Quay ( ; born June 17, 1947) are American identical twin brothers and stop-motion animators who are better known as the Brothers Quay or Quay Brothers. They were also the recipients of the 1998 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding ...

animation films.

Reception

The album was favourably received by both home and international press. David Hemingway's review in The Wire sums up with "Few other releases occupy this fertile middle ground between ambience and experimentation, between pop and abstraction, and none I know succeeds with such effortless finesse. Highly recommended". While Mark Luffman's review in Melody Maker concludes with (in a nod to the lyrics of Wintersort/Cross Country) "Things simply couldn't be finer." Ngaire-Ruth's review in Vox magazine goes further and claims the album "significantly redefined our means of cultural expression."

Opponents

While a definite outlier, Angela Lewis in The Independent newspaper is less enthusiastic finding the band's "moody obscurity ... for the art-school crowd and physics students only."

Recording

The album was recorded in their shared North London home by founding members Glen Johnson and Dominic Chennell with contributions from passing friends. An 8 track cassette machine was borrowed from band

Urusei Yatsura is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from September 1978 to February 1987. Its 366 individual chapters were published in 34 ''tankōbon'' volum ...

to make the album recordings.

Music

At the time, Johnson and Chennell claimed the album to be influenced by the early music of Kraftwerk and Brothers Quay animation films and was described by record label Rocket Girl as 'minimalist mood music with whirring keyboards, small beats and the effective deployment of brittle, doll-like voices.". This was reflected by The Wire magazine who reported the music as "ethereal electronic pop and atmospheric soundscapes" and as the band themselves calling it "pre-chip .. radiophonic". There is evidence of field recordings or 'found sounds' throughout including dripping taps, bird song and ticking clocks.Luke Buckram, Pitchfork, http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6282-seasonally-affective-1996-2000 retrieved 18 July 2017 The album includes the a-sides from Piano Magic's first two single releases, Wrong French and Wintersport featuring the third founding member Dick Rance.

Sleeve

The album front cover shows a grassy bank in front of an anonymous modern building. The reverse cover and internal booklet (CD) and inner sleeve (vinyl) appear to show intimate household details including a kitchen tap; a flaking wall; a knife and spoon (CD only) in high contrast colours. Dominic Chennell is credited with 'photography'. Lyrics are included in both vinyl and CD editions with Glen Johnson credited with "words".

Track listing

Vinyl edition

CD edition

Lineup

*Glen Johnson – ''Sounds / Words'' *Dominic Chennell – ''Sounds / Photography'' *Martin Cooper – ''Sounds'' *David Griffiths – ''Sounds'' *Dick Rance – ''Sounds'' *Paul Tornbohm – ''Sounds'' *Hazel Burfitt – ''Voice'' *Rachel Leigh – ''Voice''

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums Piano Magic albums