One of the many albums I’ve failed to write about in the last 2 months is Fire Escape by the infamous experimental psychedelic troupe Sunburned Hand of the Man. Fire Escape features Kieran Hebden of Four Tet fame in the helm in arguably his best project (IMHO) this year. In fact, this album can be counted as a Kieran Hebden project, because he’s produced the album from chopped bits of Sunburned’s music which resulted in a more focused and accessible album for a band that can’t be shackled.

The prolific eight piece collective still has their well-known primitive energy of hunting gathering tribes in sexual ritual though, which can best be witnessed on “The Parakeet Beat“. There’s apparently more structure & arrangement than 3 SHotM albums put together however Hebden has also managed to keep their chaotic, improvisational vibe going. Lots of lovely soundscape business going on throughout the album, as demonstrated by the sublime “What colour is the sky in the world you live in”. In short lost a bit of rawness and oozing creativity for more coherence and better distillation, I liked Fire Escape a lot, but our friends at Mapsadaisical seems to favour “The Blaze Game” more. See for yourself, kids!

Sunburned Hand of the Man – The Parakeet Beat
Sunburned Hand of the Man – What colour is the sky in the world you live in