Ramses III

Last year was a relatively high profile, high-yield year for UK trio Ramses III. After a reissue of their limited edition collaboration with the North Sea’s Brad Rose on Type Records, they graced the Music Fellowship with a new full-length called Matanuska. Now it’s the rapidly shifting and always interesting Important Records’ turn to make room, this time for an EP of themes that act as a soundtrack for Jon Spira’s short film Suityman. The six tracks are essentially the same languid piece of music, adapted and rearranged each time for new instruments and slightly different moods. Without directly referencing it, Honey Rose recalls the world-weariness of Ry Cooder’s score for Paris, Texas, all windblown, flat and lonesome. All subtly shifting acoustic effects, trading guitar for banjo, lap for pedal steel, the pieces are almost salutary little pockets of recognition across great distances. With a slow gait, the rhythm approximates a waltz with too many knee bends per step, but is saved by a buoyancy that lingers in the heart of the pieces.