Stunning Luxury by Snapped Ankles
Formats: CD (BAY 113CD) Black vinyl LP+CD (BAY 113V) Digital (BAY 113E) Limited edition neon pink vinyl LP+CD (BAY 113VX) Limited edition gold vinyl 'Dinked Edition' LP+CD (BAY 113VD / DINKED06) (600 copies)
Release Date: 1 March 2019
“I believe all mythologies, memories, lies, fantasies, evasions.
I believe in the mystery and melancholy of a hand, in the kindness of trees, in the wisdom of light.”
J. G. Ballard on Snapped Ankles
Snapped Ankles have taken on the guise of the very agents of their community’s demise – the property developers and brokers who heat the market on the promise of Stunning Luxury. With their adopted warehouse habitat under constant threat, the woodwose have taken this sharp-suited incarnation in order to infiltrate. The resistance starts here.
From humble forest beginnings via bohemian East London on debut album Come Play The Trees, Snapped Ankles are moving on. The log synths have been transformed into gaudy “To Let” and “For Sale” signs, which have become the new instrument of choice for the discerning woodwose. The sounds they eke out of the housing bubble are as frenzied and unstable as you’d expect. Dystopian bangers. Illicit thrills. Stunning Luxury moves quickly through life in the capital: microdosing mindfulness in the morning, a poisoned nod to the marketing department, investment portfolios and death by same day delivery.
Snapped Ankles may appear to have further integrated with the city, but they never lose their outsider eye. Not content to take modern life at face value, they’re here to innovate. ‘Three Steps to a Development’ reveals the secrets of successful and aggressive gentrification learnt from an old bee-keeping manual. ‘Rechargeable’ seeks to harness the kinetic energy of dance to power the city. We need a pulse! ‘Letter from Hampi Mountain’ gives a nod to those that laid the groundwork for Snapped Ankles and invites like-minded individuals to suit up and join in.
The primal rhythms and forest chants are all present and correct. On the surface it’s hedonistic business as usual – a communal dance for the ages. But there’s a sense of discomfort too. There’s subversion, but it’s not clear who’s subverting who. There’s a message, but it’s often fragmented. Keep dancing. Keep foraging. Perhaps the woodwose are human after all…
1. Pestisound (Moving Out)
2. Tailpipe
3. Letter from Hampi Mountain
4. Rechargeable
5. Delivery Van
6. Three Steps to a Development
7. Skirmish in the Suburbs
8. Dial the Rings on a Tree
9. Drink and Glide
10. Dream and Formaldehyde OTHER
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