Lee Fisher reviews the surprising collaboration between Grumbling Fur and Astral Social Club
VHF
Released: 07.06.19
Can something be both surprising and inevitable? That’s what Plasma Splice Trifle feels like. A collaboration between ridiculously prolific Yorkshire noise magus Neil Campbell and the reliably excellent duo Grumbling Fur makes a kind of twisted sense on paper, and the reality is even better.
Across four lengthy tracks, the trio invoke hypnotic, immersive, shuddering drone, shimmering, languid melodies, a fried motorik chug and – on closer Toejam Boxdrum – a sort of cheerfully ominous collage that alarms and delights at the same time. In places, Plasma Splice Trifle reminds me of the collaborations between Stereolab and Nurse With Wound: the almost underground and the defiantly underground colliding and producing something far from the mainstream and yet utterly wonderful, melodic sensibilities and playful disruptions drawing magic from each other.
