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I'm currently listening to Glasgow electronica merchants Squander Pilots' debut album Things Happen To Us. I've had it for a while now, and have been playing it to death. The reason I've not reviewed it sooner is that I've been struggling to do it justice. Some of you may have read my previous review of their single Given/Lunan, which received high praise. The album is every bit as good as might be expected. The album opens with a one-minute untitled track of swirling background noise before the strident piano chord heralding the opening of the first song, Starshine. This opening brings to mind Electric Ladyland's classic opening track, ...And The Gods Made Love Unfortunately, trip-hop is a rather specialised, incestuous genre; so any comparison that could be made would be a cliche. I could tell you that Squander Pilots' work brings to mind Massive Attack, Portishead, or Morcheeba's early work; but this would doubtless bore you to tears and give little useful information. What I can tell you is that I cannot imagine anyone not liking this album. Donna Swabey, the lead vocalist, has an amazing talent; the musicianship and programming are accomplished; the songs are perfectly written and constructed. In short, I cannot recommend this album highly enough. We heard beforehand that this, despite appearances, won't be Squander Pilots final gig - geographical differences rather than musical ones will limit their activities but they are up for gigging in future. Which is good for anyone with an ear for a tune, as they make effortless, punter-friendly electronic pop. Jo's massive 'box of tricks' drives the proceedings, a beat-driven eminently danceable mess of tunes which traditionally crosses triphop and electro. On CD they've been described as a bit 'coffee table' but live Donna's vocals are closer to Bjork than Dido, and when did you last hear flugelhorn on a chart single? There's a hint of Massive Attack and Portishead of course, but since the chap standing beside me remarks that they're a cross between Arab Strap and the Stranglers, maybe it's all in the ear of the beholder. What we do agree on is the quality of the tunes on offer. Haste ye back. Things do indeed happen to the Squanders. The story so far — Glasgow-based 4-piece plug away for years, making a couple of singles which suffer the usual problems of indie release. Band garners great reviews from the usual places like The List, Making Music and the like. Album finally appears, at which point bassist has departed and with keyboardist moving away from the city, the band disintegrate. Just in time for this, their debut album, to finally appear. So if the band have split — and it's probably not a split as such, just the logistics of actually playing together that makes a conventional band existence tricky — then this album is a lasting testament. The untitled rumble that starts this album kicks into Starshine, a piano-led soliloquy which itself explodes into life without warning. That's the pattern set for the album — moments of shade, and flashes of startling, pulsating light. Much of it treads a fine line between alternative (that's Massive Attack alternative) and a credible, edgier take on Dido-area adult rock — the production dictating which turn they take. It covers, as is fitting, a version of Given, a mightily haunting single, where boy and girl fight it out for lead vocal lines over swathes of malevolent noise. Common to all is the songwriting — uniformly fine throughout, only deepening the mystery of why such a stylish and danceable act haven't got further. That's the story so far; but to summarise, Things Happen To Us should be part of your life too. Past comparisons with the likes of Massive Attack and Portishead can be cast aside with Squander Pilots, whose album Things Happen To Us proves that they have their own distinctive style and sound. squander pilots make deliriously sublime pop music and are one of glasgow's best kept secrets. let's hope the secret is let out of the bag very soon. Scotland's one-band answer to the Bristol sound finally make their first release. In fact there's more to them than the obvious Portishead comparisons — at one extreme lies their sometimes fragile but also earthy vocals, like a Dido but with more depth. Add in some electronics and the predictable chanteuse comparisons could be with Pauline Murray. Add in the squalls of interesting electronic noise and slightly menacing bass and yes you have your Massive Attack kinda thing but then the full-on dance beats and very alternative additional noises lead you to another dimension. Given is a fab boy-girl vocalised thing, in fact not really fitting any one stereotype. Lunan is also nice with a strong tune. Scary remixes and a neat sleeve too - all in all, a nice package and an impressive debut. The Squander Pilots look perturbed. There seems to be only 3 people at the gig tonight. Ok, so it was very last minute that they got drafted in to do this support slot, but even at 9:30pm on a Wednesday night things should be busier than this. You can almost see them swallow bravely every time they cast a glance beyond the speakers, but soon the riddle is solved: 90% of the audience are wedged behind some newly erected partition between the bar and the stage. Ah. Over 14s-gig...."Why don't you just come out?" singer Donna shouts. "Well, we have cider here..." the answer comes ashamedly. Ah. Cathouse gig.... And so the band continues pouring out Massive Attack-esque soundscapes, calmly mapping out guitar and bassline shaped layers for Donna's Beth Gibbons-meets-Dido vocals to run a subdued riot in, alternating playfulness with menacing hypnotics like a baby wolf pacing up and down before you. Standouts are Lunan, clocking in at 8min and sounding like what falling through space in slow motion must feel like, and closing the set, single Given, a nicely seasoned duet with the bassplayer, whose vocals add an earthier, jazzier tone to the Squander Pilots' electroscopic sound. Although it might have taken 4 years for their first single to appear, it seems to have been entirely worth it. I think your sound is great. Donna's singing is cracking, and the guitar work is top notch too. ... listening to Colin & Bob I could see it as a soundtrack to a gritty tv drama, with the protagonist driving round a bleak industrial dock area. As for Condiment, words fail me, it's so good. One of the best I've heard from the tartanpodcast. So I hope you'll understand it's meant as a compliment when I say I heard faint resonances of that song Dusty Springfield sang with the Pet Shop Boys, particularly in the manner of the vocal delivery.
- Gabor Kovacs
The Squanders are up against it. It's bad enough that singer Donna is recovering from flu, without the PA playing up. There's no going back, however: after four years together they're finally launching their debut single. "Squanders one, technology nil," they gleefuly announce just before things fall apart in another squall of noise. The sound is varied and complex. Their quieter moments are better Dido, but when their electronic box of tricks kicks in, the beats are as big as they come. Eventually the band triumph over adversity, delivering a chilling version of single Given. The next four years should be plain sailing.
4/5 Demo Of The Month This band rock a pretty cool eclectic beats and weirdness sound, as this mental four song CD proves. With sonic experimentation layered over dance grooves and sexy understated vocals, songs like Condiment and Seep are effortlessly cool and thoroughly engaging. ... Radiohead would kill to be this cool — Warp Records take note. Squander Pilots give us another solid pop song — this time without the brilliant trick of boy and girl stealing lines from one another — but the strong and confident female vocal is more than enough to carry this by itself. Forget Scream, I'm getting this at Halloween, cos fuck me it's scary. Something really ominous in this tune, dunno what it is, but it's very "soundtracky". ... The wee piano riffs and Donna's vocals make the track. Showing that they have a soulful side to them underneath the electronics, Squander Pilots introduce themselves politely with Pedestrian. This is a song to raise the hairs on the back of your neck with ease. The laid back jazz sound of Pedestrian allows singer Donna to overlay beautiful harmonies over a thoughtful accompaniment. Pedestrian is like a less commercial and more perceptive Dido track. I like this, it's not MOR but haunting. Late night. Vocals a bit too close to Ms Armstrong's to see any real success, but I may be proved wrong yet. Dark brass melancholia. Acid-chillout-jazz? Trip-hop punk-rock? Whatever. Put a name on it and somehow you lessen the impact of the Pilots. An incandescent mix of shimmering beats with nods to Portishead and Massive Attack, the band — 3 boys and an almost ethereal girl vocalist — blended a variety of influences which demands a new genre be invented for them.
- Miles O'Toole
Squander Pilots' Pedestrian returns to serious Brit-rock moping, with lots of minor key guitar strumming and male/female vocalists swapping lines about woe. The band reminds me a little of the unplugged incarnation of a big, seventies-style rock band, and the melody sounds as if it was copped directly from Wham!'s Careless Whisper. Seriously.
reviewing a gig But it's Squander Pilots who are the surprise since their usual menu of triphoppy ambience translates really well, the feel of Dido or Pauline Murray coming through strongly. The first track [Given] - the one included in the Smoke compilation — rumbles and tweets it's way into your head, and bugger me! It just refuses to leave! What a brilliant track, I fucking love it. I can't for the life of me figure out how I missed it, it's a gem. The second tune [Lunan] carries on the same tradition, laden with smoky bass and lemon-flavoured electronic riffs. However, the standard drops away so dramatically I nearly got the bends in the opening bars of track 3 [a remix of Lunan], descending as it does to the murky depths of pseudo-dance/trance. Sorry, but it is not nice. The same, unfortunately, applies to track 4 [another remix of Lunan], which sounds like it was thrown together in Ejay in an hour. I feel bad saying that kind of thing when I'm sure much more effort and passion has gone into than that, but the end result is poor. Having said that, I am notorious for hating dance music, so perhaps I'm being narrow-minded. Bear in mind guys, I am a Travis fan, and so know nothing ;-) The good news is that, just when you worry it might all be the same after this, a delicate acoustic guitar intro breaks the trend and guides us into another cracking tune [Pedestrian], full of beautiful overlapping vocals and other assorted loveliness, though it could do without the antiques roadshow clarinet effects. Other than that, it's great. The slow moving track 6 [Mustard] is perfect for a slow motion scene in a movie or a flashback or something, and makes cool ambient music, though not neccessarily something you'd listen to intently. The last one on this EP [Condiment] has an infuriatingly addictive drumbeat, of all things, and it's blooming great too. squander pilots have chosen not to use a drummer live. their beats are supplied quite excellently by creative use of drum loops. and stuff. song titles escape us, but what we were there for was the vibe. you know, just to see how a band such as this performed playing live. and well impressed we were too. taking the stage gracefully (if you can call anything in 13th note cafe remotely "stagey"), singer donna arrived barefoot, and with a quick push of buttons unknown, jo and the rest of the band had us floating away to their trip-pop sound. ... alun wallace, colin bailey, donna swabey and joseph reeves together create sounds which are altogether trippy and ethereal, reminiscent of early massive attack and cocteau twins. if liz frazer teamed up with portishead then the ensuing sounds would be somewhere in the realms of the squander pilots dreamscape sounds. to coin a phrase, they're very dreampoppy. Local troupe the Squander Pilots seem to be formed to the same mould that Laika have made their own. Its an eclectic template all the same. With percussion and programming, dubby bass, wailing vocals and weird brass their sound is resonant and groovy. If straight guitar-based rock is standing still staring at a dull landscape, then this is more like flying low over the ground with a bird's eye view, gathering momentum. They are laudably aiming for a lift out of the ordinary and if they push a little harder and reach a little further then they'll have the confidence to get there. Then we have the broody Squander Pilots with the reworking of their old song, Pedestrian, again with acoustic guitar, piano and wonderfully layered vocals by Donna. Hmmmmm, great release but nothing that can be used to give you any decent info so let's keep it to a mystery if it's okay for you. I even don't know how to describe this music but as I'm in a sort of inspirational mood I want to drop this sound as "nouveau disco" ... but I started something so I have to finish it as well...and that's describe it. The reason why I use "disco" is cos it has a sort of futuristic sound that sounds as much progressive as it sounds retro (and see it more in the disco-sense from early New Order) and "nouveau" because this fits very well in the new sounds that these days are made by zoot Woman or Chapter 13. The sound of this music is rather dark, uptempobeat with typical New Order-guitars and a distorted voice.. 80's inspired or any other decade inspired music??? Who cares, this is topstuff that has the same impact as when I first heard the revolutionary albums from Jesus & The Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine. You beter don't deny the future as one day the future will be yours... (may I work for Pepsi now???) excellent jazzy dance trip hop The Squander Pilots' uneasy duet is a country mile ahead of many of the bands on Smoke The Squander Pilots tread a fine line between trip hop and coffee shop The Squander Pilots are a four piece band who, although based heavily on electronics, write and perform as a live band with 'real' instruments. As such it means that the bands real strength is the quality of their songwriting and their powerful live sound. With delicate, yet beautiful female vocals fronting some funky music (the bass player in particular was incredible) their music was quite similar to that of trip hop outfit Lamb, if somewhat less jazz influenced. In fact, at least a couple of the tracks they performed at Interactive were potential chart hits despite the underground nature of their music. Definitely a band to watch out for. Squander Pilots — a true musical melee between diverse influences and sounds and bursting at the seams with originality. This harebrained, experimental compound of Disco, Punk, Drum 'n' Bass, Indie and Jazz has burst out of the test tube and escaped into the world at large to wreak musical havoc amongst the masses. ... One for the watching, we assure you. Support tonight is local band, The Squander Pilots who, while far from innovative, are still relatively entertaining transgressing the ground between fellow Scots, Texas and indie dance acts like Sunscreem and Back To The Planet. Experimental music has never been quite as good to dance to as when Squander Pilots do it. Amazing. Very atmospheric and dynamically incredible. I sat at the side of the stage and watched, totally transfixed, especially by the bass dude. I think most people probably don't mind if you insult their musicianship, since that's rarely the point of making music. But there isn't anything to insult about the Squander Pilots musicianship since they are quite staggeringly accomplished. The fluid fusion-y bass runs interplaying with the complex weave of the samples is — on a technical level — impressive. And the vocals are more impressive still with a rich warm sound, yet controlled and clear. I also would guess that most people wouldn't care either way if you insulted their personality. I know I certainly don't. But the Squander Pilots seem to have perfectly nice personalities on stage anyway, the guitarist and electronica blokes are quiet and likable, the bass player is chatty, warm and engaging and the singer is incredibly charismatic. One of those people who just look great on a stage. Magnetic even. But the thing is, if you insult someone's taste, then I think you stike a deeper chord somehow, and I feel a bit ashamed to piss off the SPs even more. But it's the taste of the Squander Pilots that sucks. I'm sorry SPs but your music is terrible because you have terrible taste. The vocals are too often merely showy and ostentatious when they should be heartwarming/heartbreaking. When you have a voice that great it's a near crime to waste it on such pointless doodles and meanderings. There are not 10 minutes' worth of ideas in Condiment, I wish they would realise that and turn it into a 2 minute classic rather than a 10 minute endurance test. The bass too should menace or seduce, not just be this vague coffee table designer jazz-lite bland burbling. Unless the guys from "bass player magazine" are in the audience there is no need for it. The shimmering guitar should be doing much more inventive things rather than the restrained, erm, shimmering, and the electronica bloke should be leaping into the stratosphere, not plodding along pleasantly. I didn't like Level 42 or Freeez or Maze or all them other vaguely jazz funk early 80s bands. It's not that I think that in their heads the SPs try to sound like them, or have even heard them. The problem is when I listen to SPs I think they sound like level 42. And thats a bad thing.
- Alexander Blair
why are you so crap. Incidently, I was at your pathetic excuse for a gig on
5/2/00 why was it recorded? It took me long enough to erase it from my mind. Please stop this Icelandic shite at once. You are not "cool" you are in fact without knowing it completely gay. ... you useless
cunts.
- bigfun@hotmail.com
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