Mt. Wilson Repeater - CD Album (2008)
UK Release Date: 6th October 2008
And so we bring you 'Mt. Wilson Repeater', the self-titled solo debut of Jim Putnam from the Radar Bros. and truly lovely piece of sonic invention it is too. Undertaking every possible duty on this album, Jim writes, performs and (with no lack of skill) produces an album which began as a diversion from his normal Radar-orientated routine. Jim's prowess behind a mixing desk is well known and the manner in which he's managed to mutate these songs into odd, shape-shifting voyages is as much a testament to his songwriting as it is his engineering skills.
Largely instrumental, these tracks shimmer cinematically through glitched electonic touches, undulating pianos, unexpected chord changes, half-fade-outs, whistles, hand-claps and er, trains. At times, it recalls Brian Wilson's psychedelic, instrumental wig-out, at other times Air or even Moby in the languid, piano-dappled reverie of Basketball Song - whatever references this album throws up, it's undoubtedly a record that gets under you skin and certainly at Chemikal it's rarely been off our stereo for the past few months.
We can only hope that Mt. Wilson Repeater is a project that Jim returns to, becuase the feedom it's afforded him in the studio has resulted in a debut that is as compellingly lovely as anything we've heard in ages...