Rope Store – “All Of You”

We live in a world where technology is developing at a remarkable rate. Advances come and go in the blink of an eye as the world turns ever faster in a digital spin. We live in a time now where people are making whole albums on their phones, where you can programme a kettle to boil when your alarm goes off in the morning (and keep the water warm if you hit the snooze button) and where even a pencil is digital. It might sound odd then to hear that there are some living amongst us who are shunning these technological marvels and are making their music very much the old fashioned way.

We don’t know exactly why Norwich based duo Rope Store have chosen to use only analogue equipment to make and record with. Perhaps they were traumatised by The Terminator as children and fear the machines will soon rise up against us? Perhaps it’s that using old style equipment fits the retro sixties aesthetic they have lovingly crafted for their sound? Perhaps they just like recording in an abandoned nuclear bunker?

All good and plausible reasons we’re sure you’ll agree (especially the first one, though it’s probably worth noting that one of the pair does run said nuclear bunker recording studio) and while we can’t be sure which is the real reason, it has helped give them a fantastically old school sound.

“All Of You” swings throughout the 60s, most noticeably towards The Mamas & The Papas with a similar retro vibe that Slow Club had on Complete Surrender. The drums cascade with a gently insistent urgency and the harmonies call out with a warm autumnal hue. It’s rather lovely stuff and the analogue recording gives them a kind of distant fragility to the sound, very much like listening to an old vinyl record with its warm crackle and energy.

There are more tracks to settle down with and download for free (if you are so inclined) over at the Rope Store Bandcamp page. Once there you will find “That’s Not Good Enough” (streaming below) a track the band themselves say is like ‘Hendrix playing the Grange Hill theme’ and it is, with a bit of Sesame Street thrown in for good measure. What’s not to love?

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