Welcome to Past All Concerns, a new webzine / music blog mostly dedicated to reviewing and promoting bands we've discovered thanks to our myspace page.
Thomas Bel only uses guitars to create his own nostalgic and forlorn mood, and his voice to express feelings which are not quite despair or dejection, but a rather comfortable and warm melancholy, as is the case on “Comfort”. There are no drums, loops, keyboards or numerous arrangements; his music, like his album cover, is deeply minimalist and stripped to the bone, without ever sounding bare or stark. His pieces of music flow easily but make you want to hear what’s next, and the listener never wants it to end and wants to keep on listening to the tracks again and again, resting warmly in waves of sounds. Moreover, the song titles say it all: “Comfort”, “The Finest Moment to Breathe”, “Quiet Souls in a Quiet Place”. All is quiet and sweet, reassuring and comforting, honest and straightforward, pure and true in his music. Thomas Bel’s album should be listened by fans of ethereal music and art in general, including films or photographs such as Rinko Kawauchi’s, for example. He speaks the language of peace and dreams, and it’s so rare to find such deliquacy in the French music scene. Even though it is divided into eight songs, the record makes sense as a whole. As a matter of fact, all songs are based on a pattern of repetition and echoes: a guitar starts playing a simple melody, then another guitar starts playing another one, etc… until the song finally becomes very soulful and reaches a sort of climax. Sometimes it works really well, especially when Thomas Bel starts singing with his very beautiful whispery voice on top of the music he has created, and the result can be really overwhelming as is the case on “Comfort” , “Film Sequence” or on the instrumental piece “Distance”. This pattern of repetition can be found not only within the songs but within the record as a whole, “The Finest Moment To Breathe” bearing a lot of resemblance to the first track “Blank”, while “Reliance” and “Quiet Souls in A Quiet Place” sound as two parts of the same song. Some people may find it somewhat repetitive or a bit dull, but they would miss the point: Thomas Bel’s music is essentially hypnotic, it aims - with very modest means: there are no guitar hero “tricks” nor corny solos on the record - at creating a very comfortable atmosphere in which the listener can relish or relax. “Abstract Evening” never sounds obtrusive or disturbing, even though some “accidents” might have been welcomed. This is only a minor flaw, however, and Thomas Bel’s “Abstract Evening” is perfect music to daydream to, fall asleep to, watch rain or snow fall to. It is a very promising and enjoyable first record, and we’re definitely waiting for the next one, hoping the music will be a little more obtrusive and a little less comfortable. As Thomas says on his myspace page: “We’re here to feel…”. He is definitely here to make us feel very lovely things, and we are definitely here to listen.
Even though he hails from the Southern, busy city of Toulouse in the South of France, Thomas Bel’s “Abstract Evening” seems better suited to long rainy afternoons or snowy landscapes, such as the one that can be seen on his myspace page. Indeed, the music created by this young man who says he is influenced by Sigur Ros and Stafraenn Hakon is full of quiet melancholy and peaceful broodings, which brings a lot to mind early Labradford or Mogwai without the anger and blasts of noise.
Stand out tracks: “Film Sequence”, “Distance”, “Comfort”
A few days ago, as I was turning one year short of not being twenty anymore and of reaching a definitely uncool and not very rock and roll age, it dawned on me that I had spent all my life listening and being addicted to indie music. I can remember how, as a teenager in the mid-nineties, I would spend hours listening to radio shows and reading papers dealing with bands no one had ever heard at my high school. I particularly remember how engrossed I had become with lo-fi bands, or slack rock, or whatever it was called, and I would spend most of my time browsing record shops looking for the CDs with the ugliest covers – remember Beck’s Mellow Gold sleeve design? - , the silliest song titles – what the hell was Zurich Is Stained supposed to mean? – or the most slapstick, quizzical or undecypherable lyrics.
The thing with slack-rock or lo-fi outfits is that they made records which were fun and exhilarating to listen – a trait The Wedding Sountrack shares with those bands. It did not really matter whether the musicians played bum notes, the singer sang out of key or the drummer did not mark the beat in time: what really mattered was the thrill and excitement of making music, enjoying doing so, and wanting to share the fun with the listener. In a way, lo-fi musicians made you feel like they were very much like you, and the listener often had the feeling that the musicians were a bunch of good friends, who enjoyed fooling around as much as you did, but were slightly more talented than you were when it boiled down to writing either elating melodies – as was the case with Pavement or early Beck -, heart-breaking melodies as Palace or Cat Power did, or downright weird tunes – after all, Daniel Johnston actually burps on one of his song, while Will Oldham does bark on “Come A Little Girl”.
However, time has passed. I now enthuse over IDM, electro-rock or post-rock outfits, and great pop bands like Midlake and their refined, precious arrangements. Lo-fi artists have also grown up in a way: Adam Green has gone Frank Sinatra, Pavement had their last record produced by Nigel Goldrich, Will Oldham plays with obsessive soundsmiths Tortoise… That is fine with me, but I must admit that I somehow yearn for these years where being a slacker sounded like the coolest thing on earth.
That is why Poland, the second outing of French twenty something trio The Wedding Soundtrack comes as a blessing to people who, like me, enjoyed slack-rock so much.
As a matter of fact, as soon as the first track Even Ouverture, a charming though slightly dispensable piano track, ends and One Of Us kicks in, you are most definitely brought back to those glorious times of slack-rock, what with the oddly grooving and yet slightly out of time drums, lazily strummed guitar and the shrill, quavering voice of lead singer Clement, which disturbingly recalls that of Daniel Johnston throughout the whole record. One Of Us sounds like the Silver Jews jamming with Daniel Johnston, whereas track 3, the aptly named Cowboyz In The Hood, sounds a bit like Pavement taking the piss out of Calexico, meanwhile doing a great job of a song. Later on, The Wedding Soundtrack takes back Blur’s Song No2 right to where it belongs – the realm of American lo-fi – on Youhou!!!, a brilliant track, while Monday Morning is another great fun song, complete with a kazoo solo and catchy pop hooks.
However, like the best lo-fi bands, The Wedding Soundtrack are not only good fun. Clement, Mathilde and Simon can also write deeply moving and delicate songs, and the overall tonality of Poland is rather sad and melancholy, in a slightly weird way. Bigger, Damage, Child and Even, among many others, are wonderful sad folk songs, which might remind the listener of Palace or Elliott Smith, even though The Wedding Sountrack are original in their own right. These are tracks in which both the songwritings and arrangements – however limited they might be - are excellent and overwhelming, and they sound all the more vibrant and glorious as the listener never knows whether something – the voice, the guitars, the drums, the violin, even the melodies – will go wrong or not. Listening to Poland is indeed a thrilling experience, complete with a sense of “danger” and sheer moments of brilliance, such as the violin parts on Bois de St Pierre, for instance. It may take some time getting used to and taming Clement’s unruly voice and the Wedding Soundtrack’s buoyant tracks, but it is a very rewarding experience, which makes this record all the more enjoyable to the listener.
For all the goofiness displayed on some of the songs – Youhou!!!, Where’s The Circle – or in the video of Monday Morning, The Wedding Soundtrack are very good songsmiths and inspired musicians, and listening to Poland feels like listening to a long lost very good record of great American indie music – except the Wedding Soundtrack are French, their record is released by a great French microlabel called Another Record, and they are very much alive and kicking.
Stand out tracks: Bigger / Damage / Thief / Child / Youhou!!! / Even
Sometimes, being bored senseless and spending long idle hours browsing the Internet, looking out for great new outfits you’ve never heard of, what record to expect from your favourite bands or just clicking randomly here and there can work wonders. Especially when you end up stumbling on the page of a band you had never heard of before, whose sound immediately grabs your attention and never lets go of it, and whose record you can download for free. It feels even better when the thrill of having discovered this band doesn’t wear off after a few listens, and you suddenly discover that you have been listening to it on and off for a whole year.
This is exactly the kind of feeling you would have felt if you had stumbled upon Saw’s webpage a year ago – unfortunately, their record is no longer available for free download, which in a way may be a good thing, as it may mean they have eventually got a proper record deal. Saw was a French-based duo who have now moved away to Sweden, a place where their refined, exquisitely chiseled folk might be met with less indifference than France, where the indie community can sometimes seem to be surprisingly deaf to beautiful, soulful music.
At first glance, Saw sound pretty much like many Nick Drake-influenced outfits, such as Jose Gonzalez, Gravenhurst or to a lesser extent, Vetiver on their first record. As a matter of fact, both Samuel Wulgue’s brilliant and always inventive guitar playing and warm voice bear close resemblance to Nick Drake, especially on songs such as Until I Fall or Controlling My Fear. Like Nick Drake’s songs, Saw’s tunes are of a staggering beauty, haunting and delicate, complimented with very few arrangements – some Rhodes on most of the song, barely audible and stripped to the bone percussions, a female voice (Annak Andersonn’s) on a few tracks -, and would undoubtedly sound good played next to a fireside on a cold snowy winter night. They have got the same feeling of immediate intimacy which made and still makes Nick Drake’s music so appealing and comforting.
However, Saw’s music harks back more to the disturbed Nick Drake who sang “Black Eyed Dog” than the peaceful, bucolic troubadour of “Pink Moon”. Saw’s music is beautiful but never cute – except perhaps on Hiding In Corners -.and you can sense a feeling of emergency and fear which pervades most of the songs, as is particularly blatant in Controlling My Fear where singer Samuel reckons that doing so “is not so easy when you’re not here”, while he tells us that “the wind is blowing in the wrong direction” in It’s Hard To See. The future looks puzzling and ominous, as he sings “Maybe we’ll never be the same” on Changing Time, and begs his lover to make him “feel wonderful and loved tonight”, thereby stressing out how easily things can go astray.
Both subtly brittle and oddly self-assured, comforting and slightly tense and paranoid, the music on The Yellow Light is dazzingly beautiful and forlorn, and cannot but appeal to fans of Nick Drake or Mark Kozelek’s accoustic records, and to everyone who has an ear for sensitive, clever and thought-provoking music.
1. The Everknown Stranger
Undone kicks off with a mesmerizing song called ‘The Everknown Stranger’; which, along with the rest of the album, is difficult for me to limit to one genre…It begins with an echoing piano melody and vocals that are very well done, with a dispiriting voice talking in the background. I can really notice Mushead’s influence on the band in this song, it has a very similar sound to his other band, #2 Orchestra. A nice way to begin the album.
2. Brand New Ridicule
‘Brand New Ridicule’ embodies regret and hopelessness, from the depressive lyrics and the weary vocals, to the echoing effects that make the song sound even more somber and lonely. This song is the most conventional sounding ‘pop’ song on the album, but I don’t use that term negatively, as it sounds a thousand times better than the stuff on the radio. The melody is catchy and got stuck in my head a few times, and the vocals are easy to remember and sing along with, yet they are deep and full of meaning. About 2 minutes in the drums are loud and overwhelming, but after a while they go away and all that’s left are the guitars and vocals, making the song sound very open at one moment but then oppressive and claustrophobic the next.
3. Nauseous
Along with the previous song, this track is very depressive; with the lyrics being about a person being in so much pain they want to throw up to get rid of it. They think of something ‘better than suicide’ so that they can get ‘peace and rest’…sleep. The instruments create a very appropriate sound to go along with the lyrics, especially the guitar, which gives off a slightly psychedelic, unstable sound, perfect for the subject of the song.
5. The Salt Of The Earth
Begins with a strong and memorable guitar melody that is soon joined by rhythmic drumming and slow, quiet vocals that gain feeling and power as the song continues. They are eventually overlapped by a chorus of voices that are a bit tough to understand at first because they are whispered, but they eventually die down as the main voice takes hold again. The lyrics of this song are well written and poetic, they describe a person fed up with his daily life and a former love. One problem was that the instruments drown out the vocals in some places, so they can be kind of hard to hear. The melody is very good though, and really gets in your head. I listened to this song more than once, and I have no doubt I will again. ‘The Salt Of The Earth’ is one of the top songs on Undone.
The music is well written, and remains with you for a long time.
There is great potential in this band, with tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 being prime examples of their style.
Vocals are superb, very expressive and implemented perfectly with the music.
Cons:
Some of the instruments drown out the other sounds and the vocals at a few points in the album.
I am immensely impressed by this debut effort by Dolores, they did a fantastic job with this album. All of the people in the band have a lot of talent, and it is excellently showcased here. Fans of electronic music, alternative rock, experimental, and anyone looking for something good, unique and different amidst the sea of s*** that pop music may be at times should look no further than Dolores: Undone.
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