Molasses S/T  Fancy.  FancyCD1  Available through Alien8 Recordings 

A posting at alt.music.Mogwai turned me on to this fragile little CD.  All decked out in black with silver writing, hand made, tied together booklet: no, it's not Constellation.  Instead the first release from Fancy.  Ah but, several members of godspeed you black emperor! appear on molasses debut: so the Montreal/Constellation link is there. 

Like gbye, molasses tug at the back of your head.  What's missing is that fin de seicle apocalyptic thump that screams out of the "slow riot ..." ep. 

Molasses construct little fragments of Americana out of a plaintive acoustic guitar, sparingly plucked banjo, subtle shards of electronics, found objects and percussion.  "Five hundred miles from Baltimore" would be equally at home on a Lambchop set list or perhaps even Will Oldham.  Other cheery titles include "drunkard's lament" and "sleeping pill blues".  You get the picture?  This is slo-core folk stylee.  Sample line from that extra "hidden" track: "I'm in awful pain/Deep in misery".  Nice. 

So what is going on in Canada?  These fabulous recordings are flooding the market.  Is it NAFTA?  The state of the Canadian dollar?  Quebecois separatism?  Not Americanism?  Please someone tell me, cause whatever's going on up there should be bottled and sent across the border.

Meanwhile, I understand that GYBE are going down a treat.  From what I've read they blew away the hordes at All Tomorrow's Parties.  Playlists or reflections gratefully received.

There is a new album out on Constellation by A Silver Mt Zion - another combo featuring GYBE members.  I'm working on getting hold of it.

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