the open are about as 4ad as a band can get w/o actually being signed to 4ad. not only does simon raymonde produce their records, but vaughan oliver will be designing the sleeves for their singles and forthcoming album. the music wouldn't have shocked a 4ad fan either, though it has more in common w/ once upon a time labelmate talk talk. indeed, it sounds a bit like sade singing over laughing stock--or what i remember laughing stock sounding like the last time i heard it, several years ago now. what i mean is that it's jazzy, expansive, and builds to a climax, although not to resolution. it's long, too; not quite "forever," though it is exceptionally paced. it's also quite beautiful, though w/ an undercurrent of undefined menace, as if one is potentially following a siren's call to one's doom. it is, despite the risks, a sound worth following.
11 January 2006
the open are about as 4ad as a band can get w/o actually being signed to 4ad. not only does simon raymonde produce their records, but vaughan oliver will be designing the sleeves for their singles and forthcoming album. the music wouldn't have shocked a 4ad fan either, though it has more in common w/ once upon a time labelmate talk talk. indeed, it sounds a bit like sade singing over laughing stock--or what i remember laughing stock sounding like the last time i heard it, several years ago now. what i mean is that it's jazzy, expansive, and builds to a climax, although not to resolution. it's long, too; not quite "forever," though it is exceptionally paced. it's also quite beautiful, though w/ an undercurrent of undefined menace, as if one is potentially following a siren's call to one's doom. it is, despite the risks, a sound worth following.
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2 comments:
sorry to say but this time i prefer the music over your writing, fred. 4ad is definitely not jazzy (the cocteau twins who for me incarnate the 4ad sound most may be celestial but definitely have nothing to do with jazz). talk talk is more like this. i have never listened to their last album you mention though. thanks for the song anyway. i prefer it a million times to that kitchen of distinction swoon.
alexander, w/ a tune as fine as this one, i don't mind coming in second place. i don't think i meant the jazziness as representing the 4ad sound as the general sense of murkiness and otherworldliness suggested by this song. still, i'm glad you like it!
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