Napoleon IIIrd
In Debt To
GO BUY THIS EXCELLENT ALBUM!!!



1. Introduction to a
2. This Is My Call To Arms
3. Defibrillator
4. The Conformist Takes It All
5. Guys In Bands
6. Anti-Patria
7. Hit Schmooze For Me
8. Introduction to b
9. Kate's Song
10. What We Have Here Is Ending
11. The Casual Terrorist Vs. The International Board of Wishing
12. My Superiority Complex
13. One Song Before Bed to Three Four

Napoleon IIIrd is one man from Leeds, who plays music with a couple of instruments and a reel-to-reel tape player. His debut album, In Debt To, came out with the sort of staggered that only indie labels are forced to do, arriving digitally in May, slowly building up the attention needed for the physical launch last month.

Experimenting with broken rhythms and symphonic production (he occasionally plays shows through surround sound speakers), he has culled two singles from the disc, both released on Brainlove Records, the London-based basement company that released the album.

The first, This Is My Call To Arms, begins with him wailing, out of tune and sounding slightly mad before racing to a false finish just 20 seconds in. Singing, in harmony with himself, “This is my call to the upper limbs”, horns kick in, and the song proper begins.

The trait that both Call to Arms, and the current single, Hit Schmooze for Me share is a feeling that they are every so slightly broken. What belies their analog roots, though, is that these hiccups - slightly off-key singing, instruments not all starting at the same time - add to the enjoyment of the song. Don’t get me wrong, I love Glitch as much as the next man (because the next man probably hasn’t heard of it), but, like Lomography before him, Napoleon IIIrd succeeds in taking technology that doesn’t quite work, and using those flaws to create beauty.