Cargo Records

Our Worn Shadow (CD+DVD Set)

Manyfingers (aka multi-instrumentalist Chris Cole) emerged out of the shady and mysterious Bristol scene that spawned the likes of Flying Saucer Attack, Movietone, Third Eye Foundation and Amp.

Previously best known as Matt Elliott's right hand man, cellist and drinking buddy, Cole has also been a sometime member of legendary pastoralists Movietone as well as being the current drummer of the excellent post rock band Soeza.Cole's relative obscurity is set to change with the release of his full lenght debut album 'Our Worn Shadow' - a magnificently ambitious multi layered gem of a record. He plays piano, drums, cello, spanish guitar, accordion, vibraphone and other assorted instruments to create a veritable whirlwind of sound. The record takes its influences from Fourtet / Dosh and Machine Drum but adds Yann Tiersen style accordion and string arrangements played with the intensity of Godspeed You Black Emperor! The cyclical motifs of Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Rachel's, Sylvain Chauveaux and Terry Reilly are also notable. Its an album of opposites - the mournful accordions and weeping cello's recall the melancholy of Matt Elliott's recent 'Drinking Songs' yet when a female vocal is introduced on the excellent standout 'For Measured Shores', the effect is somewhat like a gallic late period Blonde Redhead. The record is impressive for the variety of melody and sounds produced, the consistently imaginative string and horn arrangements, subtle sampling and frenzied, frenetic drumming.On his recent tours with Matt Elliott, Hood, Mark Eitzel and Coco Rosie the response from fans and fellow musicians has been ecstatic. The bonus DVD is the perfect accompaniment to this LP. Intimately filmed at the Cube, Bristol's legendary arthouse cinema, it documents in detail how Manyfingers carefully layers up vast arrays of instruments to create his hypnotic masterpieces. The DVD also includes a "short" film by Joost Van Veen, a Rotterdam based filmmaker Following the hullabaloo over Fourtet, Caribou and Diplo, Manyfingers is far and away the best Englishman to take on the baton and run with it into genuinely new and exciting places. '