18. February 2014
Things You Can Buy Today 18 February 2014
“Voices is a record that sounds as natural as it sounds labored-over. A song like “Celebration,” for instance, is like a cathartic outpouring, with keys soaring over a pulsing beat as Barthel asks, “How many times can I blow it all? / How many times can I burn it down?” It’s arresting. Then you’ve got songs like “Howl At The Moon,” where the pair’s songwriting chops and trip-hop leanings are both on display. It’s all rattling drum machines, clanking bells and drones, and around the 2:20 mark, they come as close as they’ll get to a breakdown with a funky Daft Punk-ish synth rhythm.” – Ashley Dean (coloradodaily.com)
Lost in the Trees – ‘Past Life‘
“Past Life finds Lost in the Trees bursting past expectation, album opener “Excos” opens with haunting vocals and a sparse piano arrangement that slowly unfolds to find Picker singing of the “rising water” and an infinite longing for another’s love. The song gradually devolves into a melodic collage of sorts, Emma Nadeau’s wordless chorus meshes with Picker’s verses, beautifully countering the subtle yet piercing horns in the background all washed in faint percussive embellishments.” – Grant Golden (technicianonline.com)
Lydia Loveless – ‘Somewhere Else‘
“Somewhere Else, the second album by alt-country singer Lydia Loveless, is a polished package, but was aiming to go—as the title suggests—somewhere else. By stripping off the honky-tonk frills of her debut, Indestructible Machine, Loveless achieves the kind of directness found on Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville, except Loveless doesn’t always give us the coordinates to get there.” – Sarah Grant (avclub.com)
“The first standout track on El Prado is “Stay With Me,” a slow builder of a track that draws from some of Lou Reed’s more straightforward, introverted tracks, carefully building to a crescendo chorus before majestically crashing down, “Stay with me/Wasn’t there a place for me inside your heart/Stay with me/We were never meant to be apart.” Frontman Bradley Hanan Carter sounds defeated and deflated, though the track seems to belie his moodiness: it’s immaculately composed, letting each part resonate inside what sounds like enormous cathedral, complete with shafts of golden sunlight filtering through ancient stained-glass masterpieces. Despite the lyrics, the track feels uplifting and affirming, a quasi-religious experience that compels you to get up and try again.” – Sebastian Buzzalino (beatroute.ca)