It took me a little while to get there but I eventually identified the overarching influence that was making its somnolent presence felt behind this album (and not just because I visited the Kranky website), which was the distinctly sober sounds of Stars of the Lid. If you’re not familiar with Stars of the Lid they are an extremely slow, percussion free, neo-Classical sort of an affair with a heavy emphasis on strings and brass but with an eye on the highly lucrative drone market. Ahem. The main difference between the two projects appears to be length, with the average Stars Of The Lid track weighing in at around fifteen minutes, while the average track on here is under five minutes. It makes for a confusing listen because just as you settle in to the lush Eno meets Kronos Quartet sounds, the song ends and a new thing starts. In some ways it makes it a much more manageable listen, because personally I found listening to “The Tired Sounds” (SOTL’s “greatest hits”) a pleasurable but endless experience, whilst you can pop this album on for a quick burst of lushness without being significantly older by the end. It does however lead to feeling that these are just sketches for larger ideas, albeit pretty ones.
Kim Monaghan
