Psapp
The Only Thing I Ever Wanted

THE REVIEW

As we enter the clandestine studio of Psapp aka Carim Clasmann and Galia Durant, we find ourselves in a true parallel universe; a universe - according to Carim's discussions - fun and miraculous.

We are greeted by a female android who, with her seductive and scratchy voice at the same time (reminding us of Manson from Garbage) guides us through this visit ("Hi"). Then she lets us sit on the couch. Meanwhile, Carim comes, who was in another room. He introduces himself, then goes to put a record on his gramophone and returns to us, sitting next to Galia. It is she who speaks; she is the one who begins to tell their story.
She does so, measuring her words; as if every sentence were a sentence, of love or death, while from the gramophone comes a sound from another time; an apartment jazz; Diana Krall playing a Casio keyboard ("Hi").

We learn that Galia's mother collects protest songs; that her father has an encyclopedic knowledge of Indian music; while Carim spent his youth in the musical underworld of Cologne, before moving here, to London. They met through mutual friends who had the same musical tastes: Tom Waits, Cure, Erik Satie, Duke Ellington and, in general, .

They tell us we are listening to their second album, "The Only Thing I Ever Wanted", which will be released by Domino Records, but it is handcrafted, with what they had at home; trying not to make too much noise, not to scare the neighbors; so they don't call the police, who already want to evict them. They mention a track, "This Way", a bric-a-brac of mysterious sounds, crumbling into a primitive and hypnotic song.

Then we start talking about them again; about their love story, among ancient toys ("Tricycle") and porcelain dolls. At a certain point ("Needle and Threat") Carim starts beating on the table, on the armrest of the sofa, on whatever he finds; while Galia accompanies the music with words. The result is a sound similar to the percussion of the Liars. Another memorable sentence:

Carim gets up, checks that the gramophone is in place; then takes an old instrument, a sort of horn, off the wall and begins to play it. Galia also gets up and, as soon as the strings of "New Rubbers" start, she begins to dance, accompanying the rhythm with her fingers. At the second string attack, she invites us to get up and dance as well. And we cannot resist, because everything transforms: their house becomes a magical microcosm, where ancient toys and wax dolls come to life.

It's as if the whole world is enclosed in the room. Carim can't stop; he picks up a metal ashtray and starts rhythmically banging it on the wooden table and on his hand. After a few more beautiful and eternal moments, we sit back down and start from the beginning ("Hill of Our Home"). he says. Then, however, they ask us ("Eating Spiders") not to tell anyone about their work; making us understand they want it to remain something between us and them; something among friends.

At the end of the evening, we find ourselves bewildered at Kings Cross. We look at each other to understand what happened. The record seemed to us something tremendously intriguing; a more unique than rare example of electronic pop; a work that defies any definition.

Struggling tremendously, we might think of the Stereolab of "Dots and Loops". However, we say to ourselves that we have not only listened to a record and talked to people; it seems, somehow, that we have returned from another dimension.