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| Track list: 1. Of Dust & Matter 2. I'll Stall Them 3. Faultlines 4. The Crawl 5. Send Me Home 6. Through The Cellar Door 7. Beings 8. Stepping Down 9. Stuck For An Outline 10. Inkblot Running time: 41 minutes Released: 2015 |
New music time... released only this week even. Beings would have already been covered by the alphabetical ordering of this project so this listen is quite literally my first. I picked up Gracious Tide Take Me Home after a very wet Latitude in 2012, loved it and thus when I saw Lanterns on the Lake had new music coming out I simply bought sound unheard. Silly, perhaps, but I'm comfortable enough to permit such folly - after all that cuts to the heart of the reasoning behind this blog: I have too much that I don't appreciate!
First listens are rarely a fair appreciation of everything a record has to offer, but first impressions are generally amongst the most interesting. We shall see.
It opens with monitor-like beeping and a muted strumming over a straining squeal of a sound - long drawn out notes - backing up a very distinctive vocal. As the song goes the strumming is replaced, or augmented with keys, doing the same job of breaking up the backing in a similar manner. I rather like the atmosphere but the music doesn't give me anything concrete to latch on to that would allow me to say that it is a great start.
I'll Stall Them has a more rounded sound, more immediately identifiable with the group's prior work. Warm swirls of overlapping themes circle the lyric. There is a bit more life, more volume perhaps, than some earlier songs - its definitely from the same roots but feels a little less insular as a result. An openness in the melodies, the strings especially, speaks to a big picture rather than a closed shop. Today is all about recovery after a busy week. I have a lot to do this weekend but taking time out for things like this is important to making me feel human again and stop me thinking about how crappy the world is given events in Paris last night. Faultlines carries a sorrow, but it does it with a cadence and pace that makes it anything but wallowing. Richness of sound, lines laid atop each other to build a depth, a cushioning feel. My left index finger is hurting at the top joint when I type, this is an irritant and I hope it is temporary as I have targeted getting up to date on Actual Play write-ups this weekend in addition to a couple of listens. Thus far I am enjoying this, though.
A very different type of melody - thick and again shared between guitar and keys is the opening of The Crawl. Gone are the textured layers here to start, though they begin to build up again their use is more sparse than on previous tunes, with the bulk of the structure carried by the drums, which have a nice rumble in their pattern, and the one clear melody. These two elements mesh really nicely, taking my ear away from the vocal, which feels odd. Lanterns on the Lake always appealed because of the nesting of their song inside the webs the music created but here the vocal is less appealing, fading. Now we have two shorter songs, the first a simple piano melody that builds up an aura of other bits and pieces rather than sharing focus around. The vocal is in places so soft as to be barely audible. The second piece is a brighter sound clear and clean notes as opposed to the previous use of sustain, at least in the opening. I prefer the second track, though it appears to lose its sense of self about two thirds through and devolve into mediocre guitar wailing, rather ruining the appreciation of the early segment.
The title track is longer again - 6 and a half minutes. This feels very much in the vein of their prior output, much of which is labeled shoegaze in a staggeringly negative genre-typing, as if introspection is something to be avoided. Too much of it can cause problems, of course - but so, too, can too little. This is a slow piece and reminds me as much of post rock (a staggeringly pretentious genre-typing), early This Will Destroy You in particular. I like the melodies, but the vocal degrades to ill-advised edginess in places, a style that really does not suit our singer's voice.
There is a real feeling of detachment about the opening of Stepping Down. This feels like something off another album, darker, distant, emptier. The vocal is the focal point when it is in play, and that provides the continuity from the tracks before, but soundscape-wise this is much bleaker, lonely and cold. Uncaring. Its well crafted and I rather like the track but it feels a little out of place. I am immediately drawn back in by the construction of Stuck for an Outline though. Nice engaging guitars, which my ear clings to amid the swell of the vocal and strengthening percussion of the climactic moments. Oddly I am left with the feeling that the vocals let this album down a little, which is a surprise to me. I think I will need to listen again in other circumstances where my own words are not my mind's primary stream of consciousness in order to get a fairer appraisal. I definitely need to listen to this again soonish in order to let the tracks bed in. It's bound to be better when it is more familiar.
The record comes to a close with a pointless little meander, an instrumental which really offers very little at first glance. As I close this post in turn, I am left feeling good about the purchase in general despite a couple of apparent flaws and foibles.
It opens with monitor-like beeping and a muted strumming over a straining squeal of a sound - long drawn out notes - backing up a very distinctive vocal. As the song goes the strumming is replaced, or augmented with keys, doing the same job of breaking up the backing in a similar manner. I rather like the atmosphere but the music doesn't give me anything concrete to latch on to that would allow me to say that it is a great start.
I'll Stall Them has a more rounded sound, more immediately identifiable with the group's prior work. Warm swirls of overlapping themes circle the lyric. There is a bit more life, more volume perhaps, than some earlier songs - its definitely from the same roots but feels a little less insular as a result. An openness in the melodies, the strings especially, speaks to a big picture rather than a closed shop. Today is all about recovery after a busy week. I have a lot to do this weekend but taking time out for things like this is important to making me feel human again and stop me thinking about how crappy the world is given events in Paris last night. Faultlines carries a sorrow, but it does it with a cadence and pace that makes it anything but wallowing. Richness of sound, lines laid atop each other to build a depth, a cushioning feel. My left index finger is hurting at the top joint when I type, this is an irritant and I hope it is temporary as I have targeted getting up to date on Actual Play write-ups this weekend in addition to a couple of listens. Thus far I am enjoying this, though.
A very different type of melody - thick and again shared between guitar and keys is the opening of The Crawl. Gone are the textured layers here to start, though they begin to build up again their use is more sparse than on previous tunes, with the bulk of the structure carried by the drums, which have a nice rumble in their pattern, and the one clear melody. These two elements mesh really nicely, taking my ear away from the vocal, which feels odd. Lanterns on the Lake always appealed because of the nesting of their song inside the webs the music created but here the vocal is less appealing, fading. Now we have two shorter songs, the first a simple piano melody that builds up an aura of other bits and pieces rather than sharing focus around. The vocal is in places so soft as to be barely audible. The second piece is a brighter sound clear and clean notes as opposed to the previous use of sustain, at least in the opening. I prefer the second track, though it appears to lose its sense of self about two thirds through and devolve into mediocre guitar wailing, rather ruining the appreciation of the early segment.
The title track is longer again - 6 and a half minutes. This feels very much in the vein of their prior output, much of which is labeled shoegaze in a staggeringly negative genre-typing, as if introspection is something to be avoided. Too much of it can cause problems, of course - but so, too, can too little. This is a slow piece and reminds me as much of post rock (a staggeringly pretentious genre-typing), early This Will Destroy You in particular. I like the melodies, but the vocal degrades to ill-advised edginess in places, a style that really does not suit our singer's voice.
There is a real feeling of detachment about the opening of Stepping Down. This feels like something off another album, darker, distant, emptier. The vocal is the focal point when it is in play, and that provides the continuity from the tracks before, but soundscape-wise this is much bleaker, lonely and cold. Uncaring. Its well crafted and I rather like the track but it feels a little out of place. I am immediately drawn back in by the construction of Stuck for an Outline though. Nice engaging guitars, which my ear clings to amid the swell of the vocal and strengthening percussion of the climactic moments. Oddly I am left with the feeling that the vocals let this album down a little, which is a surprise to me. I think I will need to listen again in other circumstances where my own words are not my mind's primary stream of consciousness in order to get a fairer appraisal. I definitely need to listen to this again soonish in order to let the tracks bed in. It's bound to be better when it is more familiar.
The record comes to a close with a pointless little meander, an instrumental which really offers very little at first glance. As I close this post in turn, I am left feeling good about the purchase in general despite a couple of apparent flaws and foibles.
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