A is the second collaboration between Massachusetts out-rock collective Sunburned Hand of the Man (who frequently go by just "Sunburned" now) and Four Tet's Kieran Hebden. Since their last collaboration, 2007's Fire Escape, Hebden has been busy, re-establishing himself as one of electronic music's crossover stars. For Sunburned, well, it's been business as usual: according to this band-endorsed discography, the group has released 48 albums/tapes/CD-Rs and one book since Fire Escape (winning album title from this period: Weekend at Burnie's 2). There's no tip-toeing around the notion that A stands out in Sunburned's catalog mostly because of Hebden's presence. Toning, sculpting, and orchestrating, Hebden again turns Sunburned into an ethereal, electronic version of themselves.
Sunburned have kept A close to the vest. Whereas Fire Escape-- released on Norway's increasingly promiment Smalltown Supersound-- received a reasonable promotional push, A is a limited-run, vinyl-only (with download card) release on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace. Recorded live in-studio in Southern Vermont, A feels like the work of a fairly tight group. On Fire Escape, the burly collective was wrangled into Kraut-rock rhythms but retained some of their unkempt chattering and lumbering bass. A, though, smolders and teases.
The give-and-take in this collaboration seems sort of obvious: Hebden is freed to waste moments (in a positive way) while Sunburned are gifted with the tightest and most controlled compositions in their considerable body of work. "Arp and Hammer" is a rhythm-less tone poem that bridges the record's halves; "Radish vs. Beet" contains a whinnying synth that builds a small amount of momentum before being cut off. Four of A's 11 tracks clock under 70 seconds. Sunburned find room for their jams, too, though. "A Red Rag to a Bull" features gnarled drum programming and improvisations from the band's usual array of acoustic string instruments. "Action Figure" is a wonder, offering a sturdy, dance-able electro-bass and chiming radar blips.
Hebden doesn't tame Sunburned so much as direct their energy. The result generates plenty of heat, but it's small and concentrated. Fire Escape retained some of Sunburned's manic bigness; A feels self-contained and distressingly tiny. When the album ends and iTunes rolls into a Finnish live set the band released, a deliriously derivative and silly guitar riff totally erases any memory of "Alpha, Beta, Adam"'s three minutes of pleasant drone. Sunburned may ultimately be suited to bigger, lesser sounds than A offers. That's fine: Heaven knows Sunburned produce plenty of music without Hebden, too.
