Tuesday, 6 March 2012

The 2kDozen 500 #88 - Lapalux, "When You're Gone"

Languid Balearic introduction with glassy bass undertones. Then as the song gets going, sluggish Quaalude hand-claps and fuzzy, rambling honky-tonk business. It sounds like a lot of music around right now, but also sounds different. And hissing rain ALWAYS sounds great, right? "102 Hours of Introductions" it's called.

"Moments" too takes in the same semi-familiar swoop, a High Street of sounds and a jungle-ful of different sound beasts, roaming about and taking bites out of this and that. Something about the cover doesn't quite gel with it all though - too Roxy Music: this isn't music for ambassadors to mate to. "Gone" begins with more found sounds fumbling with the keys. What are human voices in this music? Looking to stretch the authentic voice into something else, something that feels more than it sounds? More wobbly synth vegetation, plushing up from the undergrowth.


"Yellow 90's" also has a sweet intro - sounds like electrified steel drums or neon lights translated into noise. But the electrification is even somewhat torturous for the metal. Even once it settles into a more familiar rhythm, there is an uneasy yellowness to it - the colour of mental agitation. The title reminds me of Nevermind sleevenotes - yellow water in the swimming pool, mulatto, albino, et cetera.

The title "Gutter Glitter" stands out - but I don't think this is an album of filthy glamour. Again, that's why the cover is false. This album doesn't have a seductive sheen or magnetic aura. It has poise, yes. But it's more intent and reflective than the idea of "Gutter Glitter" might suggest. Unless he's actually watching the water in the gutter glisten. That I could imagine.



"Face Down, Eyes Shut" closes out the album. Rolling bells and strangled Beach Boys acapellas and idle whistles. Waves on the shore, but with every microscopic piece of trash and jetsom and bacterial life visible in the tide. I read the word "amniotic" in another review and I liked it.

Rating: Low Swirl out of High Life

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