Ethereal fans should definitely pick this album up!
author: Gothic Paradise
After listening to different selections from this group, including their excellent additions to their label's Christmas compilation album, it was a great pleasure to finally hear another full-length release. This album presents some of the best minimal, acoustic and ethereal music of 2005. Like the music contained on the disc, the packaging is simple, but beautiful, lacking lyrics so the listener is left to listen or find them elsewhere, but the music is attractive enough that the listener will be inclined to really listen. The album contains fifteen nicely done selections with a nice intro and a couple of interludes, so overall it's a nice full album as far as quantity goes.
Along with the nice quantity of music, the quality of the album is excellent. It's kicked off with a wandering, spatialized ambient piece "(hybernation4)" which really becomes more the exception than the norm for this album. Immediately on the next track the acoustic guitar picks up and becomes the dominant force behind the album coupled with either Jason's slow melancholic vocals or Sara's angelic voice. Every piece on this album is something excellent, a combination of beautiful woven threads to form an awesome tapestry.
I've listened to this album easily a couple dozen times and each time most of the tracks stand out as excellent pieces that will please any fan. From the appropriately titled piece "drifting", with Sara's voice undulating along the waves of acoustic guitar and a mixture of dreamy ambient synths, to the poetic movement of "Smiling, eating, breathing" with the hypnotic chorus sung in duet fashion, male and female vocals in unison. I just can't say enough about each of these pieces, and it just goes on with captivating tracks like "kill or be killed" or "Sinkable Scarlett O'Brien" to just name a couple of the captivating and hypnotic pieces. The music wanders through these ethereal elements, ambient interludes and mesmerizing melodies until the finale of the album "(Anything but this.)" and pretty much the only piece with actual percussion in it. All of these selections are memorable and catchy in their own way through experimentation or structured progressions, the listener will be captivated. Ethereal fans should definitely pick this album up, it's well worth it and highly recommended.
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QsfQ = PJ Harvey + Loveage, Belle & Sebastian + and slow Folk Implosion
author: Slug Magazine
The recording of this atmospheric two-piece band is nearly flawless. It’s loaded with layers of keyboard, acoustic guitar, and ambient background jams. Topped by sexy, ethereal female vocals (Sara Payne) and simple Roger Waters-esque counterparts (Jason McFarland), they deliver a Mazzy Star heroin-induced disc fit for the next David Lynch downer. Best way to grasp this record is to slip on some headphones while sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes. There is a missing element of percussion that would add to the guts of this overall folk/worldly-stylish group. There isn’t anything too memorable about these songs as they flow in and out of each other with hook-less beats and empty structure, and it leaves me wanting more. Regardless, I’d sport this album next time I give my man a loving massage.
-CINDI ROBINSON
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QstandsforQ RULES beyond Ruling
author: Matthew Armstrong
BOW YOUR HEADS and pay homage. All praise them.
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Incredible!
author: Amanda
The album is absolutely incredible and was worth the wait!
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