EL TEN ELEVEN have really pushed the boat out on their soon-coming latest, Tautology: it’s a massive, conceptual triple set, predicated on a disc each representing youth, middle, and old age.
In fact, they’ve been dropping the album in thirds right across the year, with the stunning energy of Tautology I reaching our ears on May Day, with Tautology II dropping in July.
In terms of single-release teasers, “Shimmered” follows the gorgeous shoegaze lullaby “You Are A Piece Of Me, You Are A Piece Of Her”, which we cooed over here.
“Shimmered” has this real grace and swoon, a beauty and a sadness, of the sort Spiritualized pretty much cornered the market in at their 90s’ peak. Synth tones swoop and call, until an absolute wall of fuzz guitar lands and bursts the melody into a cathartic release. It’s gonna be amazing live, this one.
The duos bassist, Kristian Dunn, explains: “‘Shimmered’ is an extension of the song ‘Shimmer’, from Tautology II. If you listen closely you’ll hear that the slide melody in both songs is the same.
“Like the full records II and III themselves, these songs represent middle age and old age. At 3m 45 I purposely set the delay (echo) for those high bass chords to be off a bit.
“To me it’s a representation of being off a bit in old age but still really beautiful.
“The ‘nasty’ chords come in around 2m 32, then resolve themselves into the uplifting chords.
“I’ve noticed in my dad, who is 85 years old – he doesn’t really get in bad moods any longer. He seems to always be sort of chipper. He’s got health problems, but his temper has disappeared. So these two sections of the songs are a representation of that.”
It’s a hugely ambitious work; we’ve lived inside a while and we’ll be publishing our review of the album on Monday, September 14th. Watch these pages.
El Ten Eleven’s Tautology is already available digitally, with 3xCD and 3xLP physical versions shipping from September 18th. There’s still clear vinyl triple-pressings available, though the multicoloured wax has long gone. To order yours, visit the Joyful Noise Recordings webstore, here.
