Gameboy Princess is the creation of one Philip Cunningham from Greenock, a seemingly bedsit-based DJ Shadow who has crafted four slices of retro-electronica on this four track EP. He has declared the intention to fuse Gameboy sounds with organic guitars for the purpose of making some "happy, electro, poprock tracks" and for much of the record, that is exactly what the fellow manages.
The opener and title track has static-laden synth noises bubbling under warm guitar licks and cute bleeping notes that carry the listener through to its swirling end. Nothing else quite matches
Gameboy Princess in terms of immediacy, although track three
Snownail is something similar, albeit a little more downbeat than
Princess's perky sounds. The rest of the EP is less organic than these two tracks, coming across more as techno spewed into an ancient video game. They are competent, well-crafted pieces of music but don't grab the ear straight away and demand a little more time and effort.
And So It Goes especially reminds me of the electro tracks you would hear on John Peel's shows not that long ago, no doubt created by similar minds.
Gameboy Princess is self released via
www.firebrandboy.co.uk.
www.myspace.com/firebrandboy