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| Track list: 1. The Lucky One 2. Sad Song 3. Fallen Snow 4. I Couldn't Sleep 5. A Violent Yet Flammable World 6. Don't See The Sorrow 7. Dark Halls 8. Night Majestic 9. Stars 10. Lark 11. The Way To There Running time: 44 minutes Released: 2007 |
This disc was, I think, bought on the back of a festival performance that I missed rather than one I saw. I believe that Au Revoir Simone were playing as I arrived to one event years ago and what I heard less than clearly whilst pitching up was interesting enough for me to buy two discs when I got home. Although I haven't listened to them much since, one of their tracks appeared on a shuffle whilst I was working from home last week and I both recognised and enjoyed it, so I am hoping that is a positive sign!
I am cream crackered, up to my eyeballs in sleeplessness and submerged in work. This evening, for the first time in a while, I got away early enough to actually cook when I got home. With nothing else planned, it means I am suitably relaxed for this listen, even if tired out and lost for words. This disc starts with a very soft, slow number, simple repeated refrains and a halo of electronic warmth. There's something disarmingly charming about it. I was expecting something a bit more urgent, busy even - and the track does grow a bit more depth whilst never reaching the fast beeping rhythms that I expected. Sad Song starts with a higher pace though.
Midway through track 1 I had to pause to take, then make a phone call. This is now going to be a later finish than I expected. Oh well. There is a pleasant cadence to Sad Song, vital and pulsing. That pulse is the primary constituent of the track, the vocal subdued and the melodies secondary. Its an interesting construction, more-so because it works. The sound is slightly flat, muted but enjoyable, but becomes more twee on Fallen Snow where it seems to plod in comparison. Some vocal harmony creeping in though, and that is nice. As in the image, three young women form the band, mostly keyboards and programming but at least two of them are vocalists along with anything else. I'm too tired (and a little tipsy) to identify if the third voice is present. Twee though it may be the song picks up as it goes, a little more added.
It then goes all detached, distant, morose even. "I Couldn't Sleep" is something I have had to say an awful lot over the years - most recently about last night (one reason I'm so tired now). Here its a pretty subdued number, enjoyable but not as engaging as the richer, deeper tunes.
This disc is full of simple-sounding rhythms and loops, it is the layering that is in place around them that gives the music its appeal. I think I may have damaged a toe a couple of nights back, dropped a mug on it (breaking the mug) whilst faffing about in a barely awake state having got back from work late with a load still to do. I didn't feel it at all yesterday, despite trekking to London for work, but this morning it was sore and I can feel it again now, a nagging discomfort - no more. Pissed off at the misfortune, but not really surprised. My mind has wandered to that because the tune in my ears is slow, soft and gentle - pleasant without being arresting. Actually I find this sort of soporific, which is probably what I need, although 21.30 is a bit too early to want to fall asleep. Still have my work email open for another 30 minutes too, until the close of the US day; what has become of me? I used to be really good at switching off when I got home, and now I don't feel that I can afford to; not a welcome change.
I should write more about the music, shouldn't I (should is a dirty word people, I learned that in CBT). Good job that Dark Halls has injected some much needed life. I like the slow tracks in their atmospheric build, but yeah... they do run the risk of tuning out. Here though, there is just a really nice pairing of fast rhythm and simply melodic keyboard patterns behind a rising, falling vocal. It feels very mid 2000s (appropriate really) for reasons I can't explain well; redolent of that era of television perhaps? Do like though. Same for Night Majestic, although this harks back further, and remembers to me the glories of 8-bit soundtracks for nostalgia-dripping videogames. Take away the vocal and it could easily soundtrack a level of some crappy platformer or other, or rhythm shooter or... yeah, you get the picture. Its a nice injection of pace, external amusement and so forth.
Aw, geeky love songs. Somehow charming and pathetic at the same time, very... particular. I am really enjoying this listen. The general tone is all so bright and breezy, fun and better for listening to in a block. In a shuffle these tunes might lose some of their appeal, their simplicity overwhelmed by deeper or more complex tracks either side. Listening to the album in one go allows me as listener to adjust to the form of their music and appreciate a consistency of atmosphere and tone. I suspect that a good half of these tracks would be skipped without thought in a mix that brought in my entire range, but here I find myself enjoying every track. The vocals are all delivered as if they are secondary to the music, seeming to come from further away, behind a curtain almost in comparison. It works to space my mind out further - detaching me from my situation on my couch, muted non-contest of a rugby world cup match on the TV. It also makes it hard to choose which thread to follow - voice or music. With Lark, it is clearly the voice - whilst still distant, the support for the vocal is much more open, meaning the song is what captures the imagination. This sets the tune apart from the other tracks on the disc, as predominantly I have found myself getting lost in the programming.
Oh, huh. Guess it wasn't Lark, but the last track. I missed the changeover somewhere and only work that out as everything falls silent (my tapping at a the keyboard of my laptop aside). All in all, a pleasant little interlude of an album. Never something that I will listen to end on end or particularly often, but a pretty and distracting little number that is well worth the three-quarter hour given over to it.
I am cream crackered, up to my eyeballs in sleeplessness and submerged in work. This evening, for the first time in a while, I got away early enough to actually cook when I got home. With nothing else planned, it means I am suitably relaxed for this listen, even if tired out and lost for words. This disc starts with a very soft, slow number, simple repeated refrains and a halo of electronic warmth. There's something disarmingly charming about it. I was expecting something a bit more urgent, busy even - and the track does grow a bit more depth whilst never reaching the fast beeping rhythms that I expected. Sad Song starts with a higher pace though.
Midway through track 1 I had to pause to take, then make a phone call. This is now going to be a later finish than I expected. Oh well. There is a pleasant cadence to Sad Song, vital and pulsing. That pulse is the primary constituent of the track, the vocal subdued and the melodies secondary. Its an interesting construction, more-so because it works. The sound is slightly flat, muted but enjoyable, but becomes more twee on Fallen Snow where it seems to plod in comparison. Some vocal harmony creeping in though, and that is nice. As in the image, three young women form the band, mostly keyboards and programming but at least two of them are vocalists along with anything else. I'm too tired (and a little tipsy) to identify if the third voice is present. Twee though it may be the song picks up as it goes, a little more added.
It then goes all detached, distant, morose even. "I Couldn't Sleep" is something I have had to say an awful lot over the years - most recently about last night (one reason I'm so tired now). Here its a pretty subdued number, enjoyable but not as engaging as the richer, deeper tunes.
This disc is full of simple-sounding rhythms and loops, it is the layering that is in place around them that gives the music its appeal. I think I may have damaged a toe a couple of nights back, dropped a mug on it (breaking the mug) whilst faffing about in a barely awake state having got back from work late with a load still to do. I didn't feel it at all yesterday, despite trekking to London for work, but this morning it was sore and I can feel it again now, a nagging discomfort - no more. Pissed off at the misfortune, but not really surprised. My mind has wandered to that because the tune in my ears is slow, soft and gentle - pleasant without being arresting. Actually I find this sort of soporific, which is probably what I need, although 21.30 is a bit too early to want to fall asleep. Still have my work email open for another 30 minutes too, until the close of the US day; what has become of me? I used to be really good at switching off when I got home, and now I don't feel that I can afford to; not a welcome change.
I should write more about the music, shouldn't I (should is a dirty word people, I learned that in CBT). Good job that Dark Halls has injected some much needed life. I like the slow tracks in their atmospheric build, but yeah... they do run the risk of tuning out. Here though, there is just a really nice pairing of fast rhythm and simply melodic keyboard patterns behind a rising, falling vocal. It feels very mid 2000s (appropriate really) for reasons I can't explain well; redolent of that era of television perhaps? Do like though. Same for Night Majestic, although this harks back further, and remembers to me the glories of 8-bit soundtracks for nostalgia-dripping videogames. Take away the vocal and it could easily soundtrack a level of some crappy platformer or other, or rhythm shooter or... yeah, you get the picture. Its a nice injection of pace, external amusement and so forth.
Aw, geeky love songs. Somehow charming and pathetic at the same time, very... particular. I am really enjoying this listen. The general tone is all so bright and breezy, fun and better for listening to in a block. In a shuffle these tunes might lose some of their appeal, their simplicity overwhelmed by deeper or more complex tracks either side. Listening to the album in one go allows me as listener to adjust to the form of their music and appreciate a consistency of atmosphere and tone. I suspect that a good half of these tracks would be skipped without thought in a mix that brought in my entire range, but here I find myself enjoying every track. The vocals are all delivered as if they are secondary to the music, seeming to come from further away, behind a curtain almost in comparison. It works to space my mind out further - detaching me from my situation on my couch, muted non-contest of a rugby world cup match on the TV. It also makes it hard to choose which thread to follow - voice or music. With Lark, it is clearly the voice - whilst still distant, the support for the vocal is much more open, meaning the song is what captures the imagination. This sets the tune apart from the other tracks on the disc, as predominantly I have found myself getting lost in the programming.
Oh, huh. Guess it wasn't Lark, but the last track. I missed the changeover somewhere and only work that out as everything falls silent (my tapping at a the keyboard of my laptop aside). All in all, a pleasant little interlude of an album. Never something that I will listen to end on end or particularly often, but a pretty and distracting little number that is well worth the three-quarter hour given over to it.
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