ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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The Soundcarriers
CELESTE MELODIC 9.8.10 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk
This leaps out of the traps with a pulsing and propulsive bass line that makes me wonder if this is a Can record. The floating female vocals put me right but the drifting fragments of organ melody continue to hint. The bass is a key part of the sound, locked in with the drums into a two-step that seems to keep reaching forward. Step Outside has a more sixties sound, complete with backwards tape effects ala Tomorrow Never Knows, still with bass on the thickest sounding strings available, dipped in thickening compound and amped high. Morning Haze is steadier paced and still very sixties before it joyfully wigs out into a speedy jam section. Long Highway stretches and rolls at the same time. There’s Only One could have been lifted straight out of a sixties hippy movie, in fact much of this could have been inserted into Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point and no-one would notice, except to remark on how good it sounds. The album has the flavour of a mid to late sixties West Coast America feel that fits into the modern context of folktronica without the tweeness. There’s a link to our review of the first album below and everything we said then applies here, too. This is a development – there is a slightly thicker feel, at times a slightly more rocky feel but it’s marginal and won’t discomfort anyone. I find the album slides on like a pair of slippers, warms my ears then, massages them, alternating between gentle strokes and more vigorous workouts. In case you hadn’t worked it out, I love it – right down to the arch retro-stylings of the sleeve. www.thesoundcarriers.com More The Soundcarriers reviews on Vanguard Online: Harmonium - the debut album |
