Impressive, Mellow Debut
Capturing the mellow excitement of a summer's afternoon on an open road, the operative word in Tarka Groove Experiment's moniker is definitely 'groove' as this band know how to bend the strings of their guitars into latent funk cool.
There are incendiary funk riffs that fly from the fretboard like sparks in 'Get On Down' with singer James Fender transformed into an 80's croon-meister, while elsewhere the experiment is more personal and leftfield, take the shoegazing acoustic murmurs of '5106', or the gentle flowing 'Mugger Got Mugged' with its simple, sunny rhythm and gospel breakdown.
For the most part though, Tarka Groove Experiment forge red hot, funk-branded tunes that could only be produced by bona fide musicians with a real flare for their instruments. Breezy blues freedom streaks the album, 'Red Sky At Night, What A Wonderful Site' is a fine example of this spontaneous-sounding, ever-moving impassioned style. Then there's the folk thread that laces the breathy vocals on the intro to 'Bones & Rags' and defines opener, 'Belmont Hill', this is equally matched by pacing guitars, mixing musical genres like their forebears did at the very creation of blues and rock. This kind of smooth synthesis of sounds can only occur when your record collection is eclectic enough to inspire both the smooth grooves and firey guitarwork present here and there's no way this kind of musical soul can be acquired other than impeccable taste and slow brewing over years, The Tarka Groove Experiment have in the form of, 'I've Fallen Over' the components of a fantastic record.