Short Reviews [Dronestool - 2025 - "Tabularum Tidy"]

Up until this release, multi-instrumentalist Matt Deacon has been managing to keep his fixation with stools out of the artwork, but here we have something which if it was not for the word "Dronestool" on the flying saucer would sit quite happily as a cover for The Bob Lazar Story. Personally, I think he just likes messing with me, as I know he is a man with a very warped sense of humour indeed, but it can also be taken that musically it is much closer to the material he has released under the other band name and that is probably closer to the truth. What we have here are eight instrumental pieces, total running time of 13 minutes, but he is putting more complexity into this and less of the more ambient approach we associate with this side project. It is not as full-blown as what I would expect from his earlier TBLS recordings with drummer Chris Jago but definitely has more similarities with the more recent "The Bob Lazarus Chronicles" recordings than the other Dronestool material I have come across. I am sure that if Matt was working in the UK he would be far more appreciated than he is while living in the beautiful city of Christchurch on South Island, but he is one of the few Kiwi artists I know who did manage to get a record deal with a label up there. His touch on guitar is deft and this music is designed to be fallen into and enjoyed without any preconceptions. For me this is wonderful interlude, and the synth sound on 'seq3001' makes me smile each time I play it - who says music needs to be serious?