Ecovillage – Rhonda De Sant Pere 7.4

                Ecovillage create expansive music. It is ambient yet feels a bit like rock. Without any particular percussion it manages to conjure up images of shoegaze. To some degree I’m reminded of a less distant Tim Hecker as the melodies are more noticeable and intimate. 

                “Rhonda De Sant Pere” begins the two-track EP. Out of wisps little movements are formed. The two Swedes (Emil Holmström and Peter Wikström) deftly avoid any stasis in the movement. Vocals appear somewhere on the periphery of the piece. Sustained tones morph in the background. Nothing is ever quite focused but it feels better having a lush, meditative sound than something overpowering. Little inclusions of nature field recordings add to the pastoral feeling of the piece.

                The second half sprawls for over ten minutes. You don’t really notice the time pass by. “Amadeu I” is more melancholy. Fragments of guitar and violin appear out of the murk. Eventually these all build together into a satisfying conclusion. I’m reminded a little bit of Sigur Ros in this song, perhaps this kind of psychedelic music is native to Scandinavia, I’m not entirely sure.

                I am sure about the EP’s quality. Really it came in the nick of time for me. My only hope is they release a full album next time. This is the kind of music you can sit back with and let wash over you for a while. I’d suggest doing exactly that.

Belong – Common Era 6.7

                Belong are really hazy on this record, perhaps too hazy for their own good. This album of about nine songs is a natural progression of their sound. I think of their sound as surf music; the literal sound of surf hitting the shore. While this steady, constant far-away sound can be entrancing on the good songs, unfortunately a lot of it seems to go on for too long or feels a bit uninspired. 

                Some of the songs do work for me. The opener “Come See” is fairly excellent. I enjoy the song bass, coming in at the right time. Had more of the songs included the intensity of this one or unpredictably, I might be satisfied with the album as a whole. As soon as it gets into the two minute mark, you’re brought up to a higher level and lifted out of the sound’s complete murk.

                “Keep Still” would be my other favorite from the album. Any trace of the drum machine is erased. Instead you’re given a heavy sea of sound. The gigantic sound is perhaps what they were aiming for with the rest of the songs but failed to reach. 

                Unfortunately, the album, while decent, isn’t as good as you’d hope. Had they perhaps included more low-end, it might have been better than the perpetual overcast feel most of the album contains. Other bands are obvious influences, such as My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3, etc. But they never quite reach those band’s heights. Instead they rest in an awkward position between a full blissed out sound via Tim Hecker or a more rock-orientated sound. 

                There are good moments (great ones actually) on this record such as the two aforementioned tracks but as a whole it fails to leave a strong impression.

The Fun Years – God was like, No 7.7

Let me take an opposing viewpoint on this. A lot of people are comparing this to Tim Hecker or Fennesz. The Tim Hecker reference comes from his use of warm, fuzzy drones. But unlike his stuff, there’s no sterile editing to perfection. Imperfections in the music (like at the end of “Breech on the Bowstring”) are kept in, rather than edited out. Fennesz makes a bit more sense, but again, he’s fonder of cleaner edits without the muck these guys roll around in. So neither one of these really describe what is going on. 

A guitar leads each one of these songs, giving a sort of structure to the often chaotic drones explored. If I had to pick someone similar, I might choose Janek Schaefer. Like him, they kept a lot of the sounds pretty open, often deftly dealing with the edits. This has an analog heart, not the digital one possessed by Tim Hecker or Fennesz. You can feel it, grasp it, and hug it. It is the sound of pure life.

Using a guitar makes the songs feel that much more alive. Hardy any percussion exists on the album, “And They Think My Name is Dequan” being the exception to the rule. After this track we get the most abrasive one the obnoxiously titled: “Get out of the Obese Crowd”. 

Most of the material on here owes some sort of debt to shoegaze. The rhythms are slow, often melodic, and surprisingly catchy. And if I had to pick what might be a single “Makes Sense to Me” would be the easy pick. By bringing in mellow guitar to plod along the drones makes them that much better. 

So if someone says this is like one of the first two, take exception. The editing on here isn’t that meticulous, the cuts are rawer and more visceral than that. You’re better off for it.