JANUARY ALL YEAR

If you have ever wondered what an electronic dance-pop band does to recuperate after extended studio lockdown, January Tape by Melbourne’s Cut/Copy provides a very satisfying answer. It is most unusual for an artist to appear at the Discrepancy blog in two successive months, however the release of this previously cassette-only ambient album demands a return appearance.

Dan Whitford (Keyboards/guitar/vocals) observed how, back in January 2016, the band decided to take some time out. Have a break. Their chosen mode of relaxation, however, was quintessentially muso. "Instead of retreating to the wilderness or decompressing on a beach somewhere," Whitford revealed, "We spent ten days in the studio making a collection of ambient instrumental works."

The music was released as January Tape. Although it is listed in some places as an e.p. (extended play), it is a fully fledged album of forty-four minutes duration, comprising five pieces simply called Parts 1 to 5. Just four hundred were manufactured, meaning that it did not hang around on the shelves for long. So this vinyl LP version, released in February 2023, is welcome indeed.

The record opens gracefully with slow wave synth washes evoking the spacious style of Steve Roach. The mood is reflective, languid even. After this misty opening the tippity tap percussion of "Part 2" sounds positively jaunty, while an upbeat melody fragment adds a lift and, dare we say it, some gentle fun. The piece patters along cheerfully with a glistening keyboard run adding a delightful twinkle to proceedings before some woozy whistling takes us out.

Side two opens with a nod to Philip Glass before smoothly—and surprisingly—transitioning to a buoyant percussion led piece that will have you ordering a Piña Colada before you know it. There are several disparate moods in "Part 3", including some brief vocals and an electronic section that evoked early morning at Port Melbourne docks (although that might just be me). "Part 4" also has some nice sequencer lines and wisps of vocals building to a veritable rainstorm of notes before gently fading. Hinting at later Cluster, this piece became a favourite as I played the album repeatedly. "Part 5" is the briefest track, a stately and meditative ending to the record.

A video, January Trip, accompanied the release of a digital version of the original cassette in 2016. Directed by Glen Goetze and edited by Brendan MacLeod, it takes excerpts from several "Parts", offering shifting musical moods accompanied by limpid imagery both natural and constructed. It is all very meditative, making January Trip a pleasing visual companion to the soundscapes on the record. Back in the present, the newly pressed record itself is also visually satisfying. Dan Whitford is credited with the cover artwork, the combination of sunny yellow and washed out photographs reflecting the retro-futurism of the music within.

As the cassette has become a "collector’s item"—code for "really hard to find and expensive when you do"—this vinyl re-issue is very welcome for both Cut/Copy fans and those who love ambient music. To sum up: January Tape is a record to mitigate stress not just at the beginning of the year, but throughout the whole twelve months.

© Bruce Jenkins - April 2023