Barringtone – Bonanza Plan LP (HUM33), CD (HUM34\), Download
Released 21st August 2020 on limited edition of 250 pink vinyl, CD and download.
‘Channelling the grace and style of early Roxy Music with a hint of Wire, ‘Snake In The Grass’ is a jerky post-punk take on the classic pop song.’ Clash Music
‘If Frank Zappa had ever bothered – deigned, stooped – to write a hit single, it might have sounded a bit like this darting, careening slither of melodic madness.’ The Guardian
‘It’s not drastically different than what Barry did in Clor – nervy post-punky pop that owes a little to early XTC — and that’s just fine by me. It’s good.’ Brooklyn Vegan
Barringtone bring us their eclectic debut, Bonanza Plan, produced in two parts by Nick Howiantz at Brixton Hill Studios and Oli Bayston (Boxed In) at Gun Factory Studio, Homerton. Bonanza Plan is out August 21 via Onomatopoeia (Crayola Lecturn, Hurtling, William D Drake)
Bonanza Plan is a slice of avant-garde pop, recorded in live takes, with over-dubs, synths and field recordings. The album is a pulsating and bizarre assortment of progressive pop, math rock and angular mayhem, with an organic smattering of bird song.
Lighting-up dance floors with their mathematical, rock pop wizardry, Barringtone are fast becoming known for their enchanting, complex arrangements and danceable/dissonant time signatures. The album is a mix of glorious electro pop like Feverhead, to the more math rock, progressive stylings of Foxes & Brimstone. Gold Medal Vision is motoric, unexpected, clunky and funky – curiously demanding. Dreamboyz shimmies into an unanticipated groove from a lyric that conjures the image of unicorns, ridden bareback, tigers painting rainbows, bursting into flame – wild, heady and scattered, unexpected chords surge and surprising beats sneak up on you.
Into The Woods takes us into the forest, as krautrock guitar arrangements conjure electronic beats. Their single, The New New speeds up, a dazzling synth line, a lilting lift, crafts into a spangled disco ball, evoking an optimistic Public Service Broadcasting, as the track plunges from laser chic to rugged disco beats. Emily Smallhands spellbinds like a fine piece of embroidery, musing on a lady with a curious name. Technollipop is jerky, frenetic, a Rundgren-esque foray into the hypnotic delights of AK/DK, squelching beats and choir-like rock vocals. Finale Pet Gazelles is a whirring miasma of beats and electronics, surging towards sonic genius, while creating an eccentric and exhilarating sketchbook of sound similar to Battles, in a mercurial realist expression.
Barringtone emerge from their previous incarnation post-punk electro pop artists Clor, their debut Snake In The Grass was produced by Jas Shaw, one half of Simian Mobile Disco. While Dobbin’s vocals featured on SMD’s track Love, from 2007 album Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release. Musically Barringtone have evolved from a lifetime of diverse musical genres, currently Deerhoof/John Maus/Ariel Pink/R Stevie Moore are on the list – plus a plethora of dance music electronica.
Dobbin comments: ‘ A Bonanza Plan is an idea based on some of the more hyperbolic management theory/self-help, absurdist, go-getting, self-determination aids to modern life that are routinely presented to the modern consumer citizen – everyone needs one if they are to experience the ongoing material/spiritual/creative bonanza – if you haven’t got a Bonanza Plan get one now!
‘Obviously a ‘Bonanza Plan’ is an abstract concept that’s difficult to represent visually – but it sounds a bit like ‘Banana Palm’ so naturally a ‘Banana Palm’ works perfectly as it’s cypher.’
Artwork is designed and painted by artist Michaela Braun.
Track Listing:
1 Foxes and Brimstone (4:20)
2 Gold Medal Vision (4:33)
3 Dreamboyz (5:16)
4 Into The Woods (5:51)
5 The New New (4:47)
6 Emily Smallhands (4:04)
7 Feverhead (3:05)
8 Technollipop (4:23)
9 Pet Gazelles (3:04)
Who or is a Barringtone?
Barringtone create an avant-pop/rock deconstructionist sound that weaves along an intrepid path. A heady mix of power pop, anthemic rock riffs, guitar/synth wig-outs and off-kilter vox are enthusiastically pulled apart and reformed with unapologetic vigour.
Barringtone’s influences include: Brian Eno, Todd Rundgren, Deerhoof, R Stevie Moore, Bowie, Neu, Sparks, Devo, Cluster and old school jungle.
Reviews have drawn comparison with: Zappa, Buggles, Cardiacs, SF Sorrow era-Pretty Things, They Might Be Giants, Joe Meek and XTC.
A Barringtone live show is a maelstrom of melody, power & control. They mix the delicate, the intricate and the complex with krautgroove power, time jarring discipline, and elevating crunch.
NME described Barry Dobbin’s former band Clor as “Retro-futurist, laboratory pop” awarding their single eponymously titled 2005 album the No.1 spot in their ‘100 Greatest Albums You’ve Never Heard’ shortly after their demise which was described as leaving a uniquely Clor-shaped hole in the all too generic world of guitar/electronic music – a band for whom “musical differences appeared to be the whole point.”.
Onomatopoeia Records 
