With the mystery surrounding him/them/it, Si Schroeder could well be our very own Gnarls Barkley. That there is a connection with Schroedersound and Schroeder’s Cat is clear, but from there on it all gets a bit murky. There is talk of a six foot hairy biped in his early 30s, as well as references to brainchilds, sampling machines and the like...
Not that any of this matters because Coping Mechanisms is such an astonishing record. In many ways it’s very Dublin, and more specifically, very Trust Me I’m A Thief. But the important thing is this: if you thought you’d had it up to here with mumbling singer songwriter types, think again. Coping Mechanisms. effectively rewrites the book.
Sound wise, it’s a tour de force, layer upon layer of subtle beats, feedback drenched guitars and haunting samples going into creating a noise that is at once quirky and baroque. A much overused phrase it may be, but this really is a beautiful experience. Slovakian orchestras criss-cross under African vocals, Sonic Youth style art rock is laced with Simon & Garfunkel melodies. As stratagems go, it is risky territory – but when you add it all up, the album makes perfect sense. Si himself, if it is a he, hangs around in the mix somewhere, occasionally soaring to the fore, more often happily subsumed into the incredible sounds around him, sounding just as amazed at the sheer scale of it all as the listener.
That Si Schroeder remains an underground phenomenon is astounding. Thing is, Coping Mechanisms has the potential to go where David Kitt, Jape, the Jimmy Cake and the rest have gone before and, whisper it quietly, eclipse the lot of them. Just you wait...