Internal Tulips / Mislead Into A Field By A Deformed Deer

Planet Mu

Although Planet Mu is known primarily for cutting-edge material on the fringes of dance music, it has also released consistently interesting electronic pop from the likes of Capitol K, Julian Fane, Leafcutter John, Sunken Foal, and even Patrick Wolf. The Internal Tulips is a new project from two guys with a history in bands such as Medicine and Savage Republic who have separately released abstract electronic music on Planet Mu in the past: Brad Laner of Electric Company and Personal Electronics and Alex Graham, a.k.a. Lexaunculpt. Mislead into a Field by a Deformed Deer has a Beach Boys / Brian Wilson / Beatles-influenced sound, but it avoids being another exercise in retro comfort music thanks to the duo's laptop trickery that brings their sound firmly into the present. The project has a very modern, psychedelic production, and Laner and Graham give their slow-burning, gently arranged Americana unusual treatments that blur the layers between acoustic and electronic sounds. The former's delicate, multi-tracked falsetto is cut and edited, adding depth and clarity to the arrangements and giving them an extra dreamlike sense. The album feels immediately familiar; one could superficially compare Internal Tulips to Grizzly Bear and the Fleet Foxes, but after a few listens the modern abstraction and production at its heart envelopes the listener and takes him or her somewhere entirely new.

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