This album might not be to everyone's taste, but there's no doubt about it, LORI CARSON has managed to produce something totally outside the box of most genres. The songs have minimal lyrics, and instead lots of pretty vocal noises and jingly-jangly instrumentals, and five of the eight tracks are well over 7 minutes long.
"The Finest Thing" is a seemingly miscellaneous collection of folksy melodies, trip-hop, meditative instrumentals, and tasteful elevator music. The only song which goes a bit overboard is "Long Walk", which sounds like Carson had originally pitched it to be on the soundtrack for Harry Potter. A bit hard to take seriously that one. And some of the tracks, Hell ALL of them, especially "Grey World", sound like they could be used as psychodynamic noise therapy.
By far the most lovely track is "Glimmer", which makes you feel like you're on a big swinging hammock. Its very calming and although there is no real point to it - you need to realise that there's no real point to entire album - its just a nice relaxing melody. I wouldn't say that the music is entirely original, there are definitely very strong references to artists such as Stina Nordenstrom. But as I'm a fan, I wasn't really offended.
On the whole, this collection of ambient meditative instrumentals and songs makes a very good chill-out album. Especially if you're listening to it in a nice hot bubble bath with candles, big glass of wine, and a huge block of chocolate. Did I mention that many points during the album, "The Finest Thing" becomes desperately girly? That's fine with me. Although one of the tracks, "Coney Island", got a bit too sugary, even for my liking.
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Lori Carson has an interesting musical history. Not quite breaking into mainstream pop, she has been around since 1990, releasing her first album on Geffen Records. She was involved in the trip-hop movement, collaborating with acts such as the Golden Palaminos, and she has provided music for film and TV programmes, including Dawson's Creek (I told you she made girly music), Stealing Beauty, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It explains a lot.
So the question is, do you need this album? I wouldn't recommend rushing out to get it, but if you're into your Dolphin/Whale noises and relaxation therapies then yes, this is a calming album that will very pleasantly lull you to the brink of catatonia.
It's certainly something a bit different anyway.
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