To me, this had elements of 60's and 70's folk music as well as post-punk of a certain, melodic bent (here made quite a bit more laid back) and even a hint or two of Hendrix.
A few moments struck me as drawing connections to something far more modern, but I couldn't place it.
Generally, this album sounded quite good. How nice it were when the full sounding, warm bass guitar crept in during the opening moments of the album! I was afraid this would be yet another borderline shrill sounding rock album of the sort that bores and annoys me.
The songwriting on this album is quite memorable, despite said laid-backness, and the music feels fairly varied and fully realized. It's a very melodic album, although with a lazy afternoon feeling to it that, on a few occasions, threatened to stretch simple arrangements out to the point of being dull. However, the album thankfully never quite shoots itself in the foot and the worst parts of the album were still decent listening, if not exactly riveting.
To me, the piece de resistance of the album is the song Trad. 8+ minutes of involving, atmospheric music with some nice, memorable ideas floating about. The final song of the album, Cardigan Song, was my least favorite by some distance - especially during the closing moments. Whistling almost never sounds good in a song, and it didn't really here either.
Worst thing about the album: The vocals fit the atmosphere and don't ruin anything for me, but I was really listening to the music, since nothing ever happens on the vocal side of things. Kind of a non-entity, aside from some light emotional texturing, so to speak.
Best thing about the album: All of the folky melodies. The song Trad.
Voted "liked it".
|