So, second time lucky? Oh you wish! So do I, but here's what happened....
1. Nicotina: Well, I hear what sounds like a female vocal, which will help with track 4, but is this boppy and uptempo? Can't really say, and the main instrument does appear to be piano with some sort of xylophone playing, but as for lyrical content I can't say as I can't really make out any words other than a sort of bit of vocalise which appears to be the only lyric really. Bit sort of ambient if I'm honest. Here comes the end then. No, couldn't call that an extended piano passage in any man's language.
2. Lon lon: Had no idea what to expect with this, but it appears to be a sort of carryon of the musical idea from the opener. Very similar; kind of echoing piano and guitar, or maybe synth, hard-hammered chords, almost like what you'd expect to break into a fast trance track though it doesn't seem to. Again no real vocals. Not looking good for track three then!
3. I wanna dance with somebody: Bloody Hell! I was right! It is the Whitney song AND it's played --- so far --- slow and downtempo. Woo-hoo! Not so much of the acoustic guitar; it all seems to be on synth but the vocal is female so one more point for me I hope when the next track hits. Best performance so far. Meh, not such a big deal: anyone could have guessed this I suppose but hell, I'll take any little victory I can get!
4. Silhouette: Well there's the female vocal (yay me!) but is it slow? Sort of. Acoustic? No. This band seems to be pretty much driven on synth passages with handclap drums and tape loops, and again we have no real vocal, so the lyrical part is superfluous and I don't get points for that. Boo.
5. Polka dot: Think I know what to expect by now. Bring on the eighties-style synths! Yeah well it's uptempo so I get that much anyway, but not really what I'd call fast. Seems to be a male vocal this time, such as it is, still no real lyrics. Guess this is what they call shoegaze? Encountered this a little with My Bloody Valentine, and was not impressed by it. This ain't too bad though. Kind of more mid-tempo than upbeat really. Sigh.
6. Hold on: Oh how wrong I expect to be here! Oh look! There's a guitar! And vocals! Nice echoey piano too. Not really expecting too many violins here, and I think some other band booked the orchestra, but this is nice. Back to the female vocal, and the lyric does say “You gotta hold on”, so I think I get that one. Maybe. Don't see a big, stirring finish on the horizon though. Don't think this band does big, stirring finishes ... and I'm right. It just stops.
Well that was fun! Completely different to what I had expected but pleasant enough. Would never have guessed at the band playing that sort of music, and most of my attempts to figure out what this album would sound like have turned out, not surprisingly, to be wrong. Back tomorrow with the final scores.
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