Starting up like an ice cream van’s chime, Three Can Whale’s music is a little tricky to pin down; it changes constantly, with influences from all eras and genres permeating many of the 20 tracks here. We heard moments not unlike mid-period A&M, Walter Wanderley, the modern minimalism of Wim Mertens, Burt Bacharach and also much of the classic 80s Editions EG roster, which is all good.
Their self-titled debut is a purely instrumental album, the band changing pace and mood regularly throughout with pleasing and unexpected combinations of the eight instruments they use keeping you on your toes. (We liked it best with droning harmonium and simple guitar refrains, but that’s just us.) Simultaneously sounding like lots of things and also just them, this is without doubt the kind of album that will grow with further listening and a good bottle of something alcoholic.
