Paddy Steer and Tony Burnside have now amassed a sizable back catalogue of releases under the moniker HOMELIFE . It's almost a home recording experiment that grew into an orchestra, gathering in some of Manchester's finest musicians, one by one, to create the work with a craftsman's care. Then with equal attention to detail to recreate the music and take it on tour: a labour of love which continued for several years. Then at some point this "red giant" exploded into a "white dwarf": Paddy, it seems, decided that he would play all the instruments at once. 'Madness!' I hear you say: except that this is what appears to be happening as he sits at the drum kit, plays bass with his feet and wields dozens of homemade instruments into some strange kinetic sculpture. Now a duo, Tony's song-writing has come to the fore, nicely balanced by the DIY approach to the instrumentation that keeps it more akin to outsider music than traditional song forms.

Graham Massey