REVIEWS OF 7VWWVW - 7VWWVW

Posted on Mon 26 Jan 09

noisemakesenemies.com

It is true that in recent times, electronic music has diffused into other genres in an experimental wave of new boundaries. Some bands indeed have done it marvelously (Foals, Blaqk Audio, I Was A Cub Scout) but 7VWWVW are a whole different story.

Their name is ‘‘Mammal’‘, but upside down. From the name alone you can predict they won’t be your usual cup of indie tea. Their self-titled album is virtually devoid of vocals, it is reminiscent instead of the 8-bit Nintendo games we used to play many years ago.

Although 7VWWVW are not your everyday guitar-drum-singer trio, each of the ten tracks on the album tell magnificent stories and the catch is that they can come entirely from the listener’s imagination.

From the first bleep of song one ‘‘These Are The Salad Days Of The Future’‘ it’s as if you enter a two-dimensional video game world where you are the little character running across wild worlds, overcoming threatening little obstacles.

The music is an adventure from your most magnificent of dreams. It uplifts your atmosphere and for the whole album you are given this gift of pure creation. To sceptical listeners who think this music is lifeless or simple, there could not be a more inaccurate description. 7VWWVW take us back to a time before lyrics had to state the obvious emotions that notes and chords could bring. They are like a book of endless fascination, whose reader could enter and explore the extraordinary before the film came out and connected the dots for you.

7VWWVW, after a few sessions of soaking your ears in their aural dimension, can make you feel things, remember things and even compose ideas and emotions you couldn’t have come up with any other way. And honestly, not many bands these days can do that. They’ve been touring and writing music for four years; they know what they’re doing and they do it fabulously. It’s a world of secrets and vivid dreams knotted in beeps and synths. They are intricate melodies but with a little patience, a hint into the most extraordinary powers that music can contain.

The List Magazine

Elusive Edinburgh foursome Mammal have been brewing this tasty stew of retro electronica for ages, but it’s worth the wait. Like The Magnificents in a chill-out tent or Boards of Canada jamming with Bob Moog, this mostly instrumental fare is a consummate and sumptuous trip through analogue synth heaven, like the soundtrack to the best hippy-trip 70s space travel documentary you’ve never seen.
Sweeping from delicate to creepy to triumphant, 7VWWVW (turn your magazine upside down) bypasses the brain and goes straight to the heart, conjuring deep emotional resonance as it does. Beautiful music to soundtrack the beautiful moments in your life.

Tape Op Magazine

7VWWVW, pronounced Mammal (turn your mag upside down) is one of the best electronica albums, musically and sonically, I’ve heard in a long time. Produced by Bryan Mills, who recorded Kevin Shields’s contribution to the Lost In Translation soundtrack, it was recorded live to 2” tape at Chamber Studio in Edinburgh. The console was an Amec Big and the tape machine was either a Lyrec TR533 or Otari MTR-90 all handled by engineer Stephen Watkins. Created using a host of great 80s synths and drum machines (Moog Rogue & Prodigy, TR606, Mattel Synsonic, Jen SX-1000, Roland Jupiter 4…) the record is a good balance of cheerful, catchy melodies and grooves alongside darker, moodier moments. There are plenty of people trying to program this kind of music in their bedrooms and failing – the live feel of this record and the sounds within are what set this apart and make it worth listening to. You will not hear music like this on someone’s myspace. Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering.

The Skinny

Let’s just ignore the silly way they write their name (they’re called Mammal) and get straight on to the music. Remember the music that used to play on The Gallery segment during Tony Hart’s seminal, world-changingly subversive TV show Hart Beat? Yeah? Well, that’s what a large percentage of this record sounds like. Funnily enough, this isn’t a bad thing. Mammal’s fare is a really pleasant, hypnotic and relaxing breed of quirky electronica. It’s not going to rock the party, that’s for sure, but if you like to sling on a CD while devouring a novel or are in active favour of the magic tobacco then I’m sure this could be the cherry for your hypnagogic cake. Or, of course, if you enjoy passing around your embarrassingly bad sketches of family pets or showing off a fish you’ve fashioned from bottle tops, this is clearly the perfect soundtrack.

normanrecords.com

Now 7VWWVW: S/T on Crystal Wish Records. We discovered that when you turn their name upside down it spells Mammal like in a BOOBLESS kind of way. It is another synth retro electronic journey with electronic waves and pulses combing in computer space to describe a day if you were a Mr Man. Phil says it sounds like Plone.. Ant says it sounds like Plone…. Mingus says it sounds like Plone. The odd bit of singing drift in and out in a Hood style way to add to the quite original vibe it’s pushing out. Recently supported the Aliens.

rhythmonline.com

7VWWVW is pronounced Mammal (it’s upside down…) 7VWWVW are a lovable four-piece synthesiser combo from Edinburgh who use a bewildering assortment of analogue instruments to concoct their own brand of electronica. The band have been labelled everything from ‘a glitch hop duo’ to ‘perennially weird’ and comparisons have been made with Ratatat, Steve Reich and ELO. 7VWWVW recorded this album with producer Bryan Mills, (who has previously worked with Nigel Godrich and Kevin Shields), inspired by labelmates the Magnificents, Philadelphia’s Plastic Little (whose forthcoming EP might just feature some music by the band), The F*cking Champs from San Francisco and Colin Newman from Wire who listed 7VWWVW’s tune ‘Old Man Of The Woods’ in his Top 20 Tunes of 2007.

vinylexchange.com

Very high quality packaged and presented and recorded electronica album (a labour of love for sure) from 2007 out of Scotland. Vinyl exchange.

jumborecords.com

We love this. Lo-fi/Low Tech electronica, layered synths tweeting above creaking drum machine technology. This reminds me of the late 90’s era of bedroom experimentation – Plone, Pram ‘et al’…Very Limited.

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