LowerState

My first encounter (of many) with Mike Smalle was rather aptly on the dancefloor. Introduced through a mutual friend, a similar partiality to certain musical strains transpired between us. I was genuinely surprised then to find out at a later date Mike was constructing a pop album under his B-Movie Lightning moniker. I was surprised even further to find Mike singing (rather wonderfully) atop said album. And thus is Mike, quite multi-dimensioned, quite unpredictable. His album Rain on a River emerged in June of this year, a 13 track affair with dreamy vocals floating atop 80’s basslines, fluffy synth melodies interspersed with triumphant trumpets. From our many talks and tangents on all things musical, it came quite naturally to invite Mike to put together a podcast for us, and the result is quite perfectly autumnal.

Additional words from Padraic O’Connor / Galway Wow [original article]

It was one of those moments that music anoraks like myself thrive on. I was living in Barcelona at the time and was on my regular Friday sojourn to the inspirational CD Drome record shop for my weekly music fix.

I knew the score with CD Drome, it happened every week. I’d go in, ostensibly to purchase 2 or 3 twelves of a house/disco/electronic persuasion but I’d leave with 4 or 5 slabs of vinyl and a handful of cds of everything from hazy folk to spacey prog rock depending on what the friendly guys behind the counter deemed to be the music they were going to tempt me with on that particular trip.

The friendly CD Drome staff had an irritating talent for playing the most beautiful music over the shop speakers while you trawled through your own selection at your listening post; music so good you knew that (A) you were going to have to ask the inevitable question “What’s that playing at the moment?” and (B) you were going to leave the shop with a copy of said album or single.

I’d settled in, headphones on, to pick through my vinyl selection when in between records I let my guard down for a few seconds and took off my headphones. Those few seconds were all it took for me to be completely mesmerized by the breezy, joyous pop wafting towards me from the shops speakers.  The obligatory “What the fuck is that?” in my pigeon Spanish followed and, with a knowing smile, came the retort, “it’s one of our favourite albums in the shop, and it’s from your country. It’s Cane141.”

I’d seen and indeed heard Michael Smalle’s merry Cane 141 collective before I’d left Ireland for Barcelona and knew of their delightful and dreamy melodies.  But that day in CD Drome, as I spaced out to the delirious “Let’s go out tonight” refrain of The Grand Lunar, was one of those moments, as a music lover, you never forget.

Mr Smalle’s album received heavy rotation in our sweaty Barcelona apartment that summer and since then I’ve kept a firm eye and ear out for all things Smalle.

As well as musical hook-ups over the years with the likes of Mark Eitzel, Sean O’Hagan and Cristian Vogel he has collaborated also rather superbly with Galwegian visual artist Roisin Coyle on the beautiful Lost at Seainstallation while his music has been lauded by radio DJs in Ireland and beyond. Here in Ireland tastemakers such as Cian Ó Cíobháin and Donal Dineen regularly dot their shows with splashes of Smalle colour while over the years Mike has also released music through BBC’s Chris Coco & Rob Da Bank’s The Blue Room series as well as hitting the ultimate heady heights of recording a John Peel session.

In recent years Mike has left his Cane 141 days behind him but his latest nom de plume, B-Movie Lightning, still sees him imperiously ploughing that refined glittering pop furrow that he harvests so well.  His mastery of shimmering keys, 80’s sounding instrumentation and drums allied with those whispered vocals hypnotises and entrances like a mantra. It’s charming music from a charming man.

The genial, understated Mr Smalle is a man who has stuck to his musical principles making subtle, ethereal, everyday, heartfelt pop to while away the days and nights. His talent is to make music for daydreaming to, music for road-trips, for getting drunk to, music to get lost in, music to make you smile or to comfort you when you’re having one of those days. Music that stirs your emotions and fills your heart.

So much music nowadays is condemned to the bin after just a few listens. Throwaway rubbish in a world more concerned with sound bytes than the whole story or with slick singles instead of albums that paint the full picture. But there’s a certain something about the music of Mike Smalle, B-Movie Lightning and of his old alter-ego Cane 141 that defies trends and is timeless.

Tracklist

1. Bark Psychosis : Pendulum Man
2. Aphex Twin : Rhubarb
3. Motion sickness Of Time : Absolute Pigment
4. Kangding Ray : A Protest Song
5. Broadcast : Echo’s Answer
6. Daphne Oram : Amphitryon 38
7. The Caretaker : Cloudy since You went Away
8. Julianna Barwick : sunlight.heaven
9. Linda Buckley : Immersia II
10. Nils Frahm : c,e,g.
11. Tim Hecker : Hatred Of Music I
12. Stars Of The Lid : Even If You’re Never awake

More on B-Movie Lightning

http://bmovielightning.com/
http://b-movielightning.bandcamp.com/
http://soundcloud.com/b-movie-lightning
http://www.myspace.com/bmovielightning

Download LowerState Podcast 015 / B-Movie Lightning

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