The Books — The lemon of pink
The books are Paul de Jong (a Dutchman living in New York) and Nick Zammuto. They met in 2000 and it took them 2 years to complete their first album. The lemon of pink was completed in much less time and in almost one go. The books are certainly children of the sample family. However, they stand-out among their numerous sisters/ brothers/ father/ mother/ stepfather/ stepmother/ cousins/ uncles/ aunts/ grandparents/ nephews/ nieces… Their collages sounds like no one else: de Jong and Zammuto don’t seem to be after “nice” samples, they are on the look for bits that can connect with others, however odd it might sound at first. Judging on their first album, it was obvious that they had a special ear. And the samples are not alone since they also play a variety of instruments and also add their own voices or that of a guest.
The lemon of pink sounds a lot like Thought for food, but it’s still the sound of a unique band. The books ability to put together a variety of samples, add guitars or banjos and at times vocal so that the whole forms a song on its own right is just stunning. The title track is a fine example. Starting with samples seemingly put together at random, a banjo comes put some “order” to it all, while glitches, cello and voice samples crowd the background. I say crowd, but actually not that much: the music is not saturated with elements and leaves enough space for a voice to fit in. An actual voice. Not treated, not sampled. A voice. Anne Doerner’s voice. A beautiful voice. A beautifully real voice. Something that was not present on Though for food. Superb. On Tokyo (the third song released on Tomlab to feature Tokyo’s in the titles after the ones on the latest Tujiko Noriko – reviewed on this site, browse our archive), the banjo is the main element, surrounded by drones and helped by a guitar. A sample of a recording taken from a Japanese airline company end of flight message is integrated perfectly. Almost perfectly enough to have you think that it might have been recorded just to be included in the song. Among the drones and glitches, there are a few samples of people saying a few words in Japanese. Superb again. S is for evrysing works the same way with cello instead of banjo, samples in English and Italian, a more distinct cut and paste structure and Doerner’s (?) voice used as just another discreet element in this extremely soothing piece. There is no there is a very powerful track, with vocals slice up, digitally worked and fused together elements. A real cut and paste thing, but one of the best I’ve ever read. More of a song, Take time is almost symphonic. A few samples of voices and various sounds put together in a way that makes it difficult to hear any pattern until a little guitar helps us and then all of a sudden, “real” vocals, electronics and guitars marry together in a uplifting symphony. Don’t even sing about it is very different from the rest of the album, much darker, with very simple guitar lines and subdued vocals. Nothing, except the banjo hints and a few surprising samples, would hint that it’s a song by The books if you were to hear it on the radio. Different, but so good. So fucking good. A story of a story of true love is another fabulous song, very moody, almost ambient.
The books had no problem to record a second album as good as the first one. Hopefully, in a year or so they will add a third album as good as the previous two. This leaves you enough time to buy Thought for food and The lemon of pink.
Available in Benelux through Aim-Distribution