Beautiful Lunar Landscape (BLL) formed in October 2003 but this is their first, self released, ep. They are 6 piece band, 5 from Bordeaux, France and one, singer Ben Ling , from Bristol England.
Their atmospheric sound places them at a point somewhere between trip-hop and post rock (they call it trip-rock).
The vocals of Ben, are shared with a delicate female voice of Laureline Roux-Emery and these drift in and out without imposing too much.
Aside from the title track the other three songs have expansive and slightly pompous titles "Imaging the glorious chaos as a ghost of myself"; "Cristallized facing this empty screen, I wish the film could never end' (shouldn't that be 'would' not 'could' guys?!) and finally 'Tomorrow I'll be born inside as an eternal beginning'.
As you would expect from reading these, the mood is one of wistful self reflection. In the title track for instance, the spoken line "There were some things I didn't say' is repeated as gentle waves of guitar/synth/drums build in the background. Instead of any edge of menace, however, their sound substitutes a floaty restraint for any genuine sense of tension or drama.
|
The controls for each track are set on cruise and suggest a full throttle climax is imminent but it never materialises.
The tunes glide along melodically but rather too methodically so overall the ride is pleasant but all too smooth for my taste. The impression is that BLL are content to be drifting in space without any ultimate destination in mind.
4 tracks 24.34 minutes
myspace.com/beautifullunarlandscape
|
