Here’s something a little different as a palate cleanser, as it were. Fractured Wrist is a new project from an unnamed Scottish songwriter-slash-producer wherein the artist has recorded instrumental ideas to a digital 4-track salvaged from the trash. Using only guitar, bass and analog synthesizers. Very economical, but also using from the two main music food groups that we love – guitars and synths. Never better than when working together. How’d they do with that approach?

Fractured Wrist: Initial Sketches 1 – UK – DL [2024]

1. Seconds
2. New Year
3. Cat Claw
4. Winged Figure
5. Deep Red

The introductory “Seconds” was little more than a brief jingle with languid guitar over a synthetic drone fattened up with a few string patches. But as a précis for the whole project, it set the tone admirably. Though brief at 1:01, it definitely leaves us wanting more. The fuller “New Year” fulfills that want capably. Synth harmonics dancing with the twang guitar put me in mind of early New Order, which will nip at the heels of many of the songs here. The artist had cited artists such ad Durutti Column, This Mortal Coil, or David Sylvian as to what they were listening to when recording this music, but to these ears, the pronounced New Order vibe was palpable. The interplay between the sustained, bagpipe guitar and a lo-fi sampled pizzicato string flourish made for a great, even rhythmic, hook on an EP completely free from the tyranny of the beat. Instead, it reached a stately place with the dignity of the melody given plenty of sonic space to occupy.

The elephant in the room was definitely New Order, with “Cat Claw” attaining the status of a long-awaited sequel to “Low Life’s Elegia.” Yet the delivery here showcased a lighter touch than New Order offered with repeating rhythm guitar figures being punctuated by sustained string patches and synthetic tubular bells. Maybe that was down to the 4-track limitations of the recording interface, but it had an economy that appealed to the ear while offering a similar vibe.

“Winged Figure” was another pas-de-deux of sustained guitar and string patches, with the strings winning out this time. “Deep Red” as inspired from the Dario Argento giallo film of the same name trafficked in a sense of disquiet that the other tracks here weren’t interested in pursuing. Ending as it did on the same insistently questioning note that it began on.

This EP was striking a neat balance between traditional songcraft and ambience. It had a spacious, 4-track sound, but was more complex than something purely shooting for an ambient target. The lack of rhythm made it take a step or two away from Pop without a wholesale abandonment of the pleasures of melody. At 21 minutes long, it doesn’t even come close to overstaying its welcome. Fractured Wrist says there’s more where that came from so look out for some follow up EPs in the near future. Yours on Saturday, the 1st of June, 2024 for £5.00 at DL and an extra Pound Sterling will net you one of the bespoke cassettes the artiste is making. With a limited run of…”however many I can be bothered making.” Three cheers for such candor, and the music’s not bad, either! Mr. D.J. …hit that button.

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