Stream: El Ten Eleven, ‘Peter and Jack’

Kevin Bronson on July 31st, 2015

0

Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty have a long history of being … well, astounding. They’ve been El Ten Eleven for a decade now, incrementally pushing forward their distinctive instrumental post-rock and largely going where no duo has gone before. To review: Using an intricate looping rig as a “third man,” the pair work with Dunn wielding a guitar/bass double-neck or a fretless bass and Fogarty banging away on a combination of acoustic and electronic drums and pads. Sometimes El Ten Eleven make you feel you’re at a post-punk show waiting for a singer to deliver some kind of screed, which of course never happens; other times, you swear that Dunn’s guitar and bass are speaking in tongues, spinning some kind epic yarn or telling some dirty secret. The duo’s sixth album “Fast Forward” is out Aug. 21 via their own Fake Record Label, and the band explains that the new song “Peter and Jack” is a thank-you to Peter Hook (of New Order and Joy Division) and his son Jack Bates, who, after playing some shows with El Ten Eleven, suggested to Dunn that he use one of the six string basses they were using. Since their last full-length (2012’s “Transitions”), El Ten Eleven has weathered family tragedy, scheduling woes and the March 2013 theft of all their gear. The new album has a strong thread of family and home (“Point Breeze” and “Scott Township” are areas in Fogarty’s native Pittsburgh), but, as Dunn said in announcing “Fast Forward,” “It’s surprising this record even got made.”

||| Stream: “Peter and Jack” and “Point Breeze”