Out of Touch in the Wild

Great inventors from Manchester

Manchester, the one in the good old England, has long been famous for its musical talents as it keeps delivering unique and singular performers to the international stage year in year out, but even amidst them Dutch Uncles stand out as a very special act. How steadily and smoothly the Manchester-born ensemble, led by vocalist and keyboardist Duncan Wallis, advances to triumph! It seems they are following a world-conquering plan which was prepared in full detail and provided with drawings and accurate mathematic calculations. That is for the right reason that the style of this fascinating outfit is called by many mathematic pop. Words can not say everything, and to comprehend the whole idea, you have to try a song or two by these incredible English musicians. Armed with pop-hit arrangements, excellent modern sound, and lyrics for masses, Dutch Uncles make music miracles engaging elements of various schools and trends. Yet, the best way to check it out is to listen to their third album, released right at the beginning of 2013 under the title Out Of Touch In The Wild.

Out Of Touch In The Wild: introduction of indie-pop music

If you though there can be only indie-rock, this album will make you think twice. What we are presented with is a brilliant work in quite a sophisticated and intriguing style called indie pop. Dutch Uncles destroy stereotypes of pop music as a set of clichйs and run-of-the-mills, and introduce a totally new approach. The pop music of Out Of Touch In The Wild lives its own life and seems inconsiderate of the audience’s expectations, changing at will the tempo, meter and instrumentation. Should it consist of nothing but guitars and drums, it could be called progressive rock, but Dutch Uncles prefer a wide range of means, from simple, yet catchy dance beats to intricate synths. It is all crowned with Wallis’s falsetto, whose singing, again, is too exquisite and requiring for ordinary pop songs. It is tough to select the most proficient, the most technically advanced, and at the same time interesting and emotional track because the record is indeed composed of a lot of layers and levels. It flows from one state into another, keeping listeners in sweet unawareness.

Intelligent and technically consistent album from Dutch Uncles

Out Of Touch In The Wild is only stable in its instability. Danceable and light-minded single Flexxin, loaded with plenty of synths, does not reflect all the qualities of this album. For example, it is seriously different from another big-time song here, Nometa, where most of the music is a variety of percussion, or catchy Zig Zwang, sailing on the restless sea of strings. Probably, Godboy is the record’s most versatile track because it has everything Dutch Uncles are fond of: solemn classical instruments (violin), sequences of quiet and loud moments, unsteady rhythm. Yet, it is not only the selection of instruments, but also their alternation, appearance and disappearance within just one song, which is what happens in opener Pondage. It begins with a simple piano line, but then is pushed aside by sparkling electronic effects and rhythms of retro disco. Out Of Touch In The Wild is a delicately thought-through, intelligent album which can first surprise or even alarm you, but them draw and captivate you with its peculiar sounds.