Browsing Tag

Low

Oh doom! orchestrated a sonic dichotomy in their tone-setting post-rock debut, All Our Songs Are Slow and Sad

Posted on 20 July 2024

Oh doom! set the tone for their forthcoming discography with the release of their elegiac debut single, All Our Songs Are Slow and Sad; but given the artistic intensity within the inaugural release, expecting the unexpected would be safer.

The release ensues from an ambient post-rock composition filled with art-rock motifs and reverb-drenched choral guitars that pull textures of shoegaze into the production until the track steadily builds in momentum throughout the extended 8-minute duration.

While attention spans may be waning and artists are churning out 2-minute pop tracks left, right, and centre, Oh Doom! exhibited the beauty of foregoing instant hooks for mind-shattering crescendos, cinematically constructed by distorted walls of noise, powerful enough to reverberate right through you.

The kinetic alchemy within All Our Songs Are Slow and Sad is a visceral attestation to the raw, creative power of Oh Doom!, who have the potential to rise to the same heights as Low and Mogwai. Not pedestrian enough for unoriginated post-rock assimilation, the single broadsides with Grandaddy-esque polyphonic synthetics which infiltrate the paradoxically tender yet monolithic production.  Yet, perhaps the most striking beauty in the single lies in how, regardless of the intensity of the instrumentals, the pensively diaphanous vocals maintain imperturbable innocent serenity.

From the ashes of frenetically-paced projects, Oh doom! banded together to filter hope into despair in their releases which utilise spatial effects to let emotion manifest between the notes. As the first single from the debut EP, set for release on July 26, All Our Songs Are Slow and Sad became an irrefutable sign of even bigger things to come from the North London/Hertfordshire band.

All Our Songs Are Slow and Sad was officially released on July 5; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Culture Bloom harmonised to the nines in their spectrally raw acoustic indie & alt-rock synthesis, Nightmare

Posted on 8 October 2023

‘Nightmare’ is the first synthesis of acoustic indie and alt-rock to spill from the debut EP, Aren’t You Proud?, from Denver Colorado’s most nostalgically euphonic drop-dead stunning duo, Culture Bloom.

If Placebo penned bitter-sweet symphonies in the same vein as The Verve and mainlined a little Death Cab for Cutie into that vein, the alt-90s melodiousness would hit with exactly the same force of impact as Nightmare.

The emotional weight carried within the harrowed and haunted layers of vocal harmonies as they collide with the stabbing guitar lines resonates as infinitely more than the sum of all parts, allowing Nightmare to stand as a testament to the song-crafting capacities of the duo that should be on every alt indie fan’s radar.

Stream Nightmare on Spotify and stay tuned for the EP release on October 20th.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mosa melodically sculpted the twilight in his latest electronic score, The Night Sets In

Posted on 7 October 2023
Mosa

Lose yourself in the dusky twilight of the latest electronic folk serenade by the Oxford-based sound designer Mosa. His scintillating single, The Night Sets In, is a plaintively compelling composition that could be easily compared to the artfulness of Radiohead, Mogwai, and Low; although those comparisons can allude to the diaphanously sonorous atmosphere of his sound, they don’t do Mosa’s intrinsic authenticity much justice.

His unique ability to infuse the dusty soul of blues into his sound design around the neo-classic keys and ethereal motifs establishes him as one of the most authentic artists around in 2023. We were hooked after hearing his single, Helicopter, earlier this year, after hearing The Night Sets In, which could easily rival the beguiling gravitas of any of the releases on the Westworld soundtrack, we are even more assured that Mosa is one to watch.

The Night Sets In will be officially released on October 7th. Hear it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dream Optimist sugared sonic soul before pouring it into their spacey synthpop single,  Think Gently of Yourself

Posted on 9 September 2023

Silence the maleficence of your inner critic with the latest interstellar indie space pop escapade, Think Gently of Yourself, from Dream Optimist. If Do You Realize by The Flaming Lips never fails to pull at your heartstrings and stir your soul with unabashed positivity, the same viscerally sweet reaction awaits when you hit play on the seminal single from Dream Optimist’s 15-track LP, Seven Day Love Challenge.

Atop the twinkling Grandaddy-esque keys and around the chamber strings, the questioning and pervasive with doubt lyricism leads you on an affirming odyssey of a journey through the cosmos, with the consolingly compassionate vocals acting as a star-roving guide.

The Oakland, CA-residing songwriter and composer, frequently voyages between synthpop, bedroom pop, chamber pop and a myriad of other genres when penning his hits for his ‘low head count collective’. Before breaking into song crafting for the airwaves, the collective’s head honcho, David Marc Siegel, honed his talents in art-punk outfits and as a composer for ad music, theatre music, musical theatre, and short films, which goes a fair way in explaining how he settled on his cinematically spirited sound that will take you as high as the transcendent register on the vocal harmonies.

Stream Think Gently of Yourself by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Elias Kopp tames the black dog in his melodic pop mental health advocation, Low

Posted on 26 August 2022

Many things in the UK feel absurd right now; you can add Elias Kopp’s underground status to the list of nonsensically baffling things. His latest single, Low, is the epitome of a melancholic melodic masterpiece.

The moody synths and the sweetly lamenting vocal harmonies pull together to make all the mornings you have woken up with the metaphorical black dog beside you fleetingly worth it. As the lyrics yearn for serotonin, Low ironically delivers.

The Brighton, UK-based artist remains committed to proving to people struggling with mental health that they’re not in the minority and that it is possible to come out the other side stronger. From an artist with a fraction less finesse in their sound, that may come across as a little cliché, but Kopp’s sound is always soaked in sincerity. With an album in the pipeline, there has never been a better time to save space on your radar.

Low is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Crow Quilled Confessions Release Fascinating Track ‘A Human Being on the Planet Earth’

Posted on 6 October 2017
A Human Being on the Planet Earth by Crow Quilled Confessions

I recently attended a De La Sol set at a festival in Queens. I enjoyed an interlude in which a voice from the trio said that sometimes you just need to let the beat play. It’s always nice to hear how artists feel about the things they make and how they make them. It’s also nice to see how artists whose styles vary greatly can agree on certain sentiments. Such is the case with Crow Quilled Confessions. Their track A Human Being on the Planet Earth perfectly demonstrates a group who know how to let the beat play when it needs to.

For the first half of the song, there are several elements introduced that seem to orbit around the catchy, strongly-mixed beat. You might miss some details along the way if you aren’t careful, but one thing is for certain, you will feel that beat. It doesn’t seem like a drum part that needs much elaboration. It may not have much to say. This doesn’t stop Crow Quilled Confessions from letting it lead the charge into the second half, which quickly but organically reinvents its status quo with fuzzy guitars and a bass that triumphantly makes its presence known.

From here, the track becomes a ride. Suddenly the beat has taken a backseat for the exploration of all the other themes that had previously been allowing it to lead. For such a dramatic change in priority to occur while holding onto the mood and tone of the song is a major challenge. Even as the song fades out in its last 30 seconds, you can’t help but feel the beat play on in your mind. This is a song that leaves the speakers and really does affect your mind for moments at a time. It’s not overly complicated, but it’s certainly a fascinating track.

-Paul Weyer