Promise Lands - Lowgold Album Review
Lowgold
Album Review
This is an interesting piece of Proustian memory from sensation. Lowgold were a good friend to me during my first year of University, and their quiet, wide-screen indie debut - 'Just Backwards of Square' was the perfect accompaniment of days spent avoiding essay writing and living the university high life.
Six years on, four albums later, and I've moved on far more dramatically than our indie friends here seem to have. Indeed, as I scramble to compile this review on my lunch hour, accompanied by the frequent interruptions of questions and instruction that are the staple of those who have just taken some holiday leave, Lowgold's low-fi accompaniment in one ear is set against a whole scene of work related irritation that I should warn the young Alan about, had I the abilities to use a time machine. What I would not warn the young Alan against is the latest Lowgold album which showcases the band as dependably quiet and lovely as when they first crept into our collective musical consciousness.
A little louder, perhaps, and with slightly more purpose than their meandering debut, the music is still the best kind of quiet, relaxed indie. The vocals never go beyond the same tone and pace as in the low-key choruses as they do in the quiet verses, and the whole piece washes over you like a relaxing, warm bubble bath. And once the warm watery delights of the music shoots off down the plughole, leaving you cold but refreshed, it's hard to resist the temptation to restart the album again. The music won't get stuck in your head on a first, second, or even third listen, but slowly, without pressure it enters your consciousness making it the perfect spacey accompaniment for a shoe-gazing evening in.
Such is the sensation of the whole piece as an album, it's hard to pick out the standout tracks. They have a tendency to stick together, as a cohesive whole rather than standing upright on their own merits. Opening track 'Clear' is a personal favourite with Darren Ford harmoniously instructing us to "rest in peace, as long as your conscience is clear". Oh yeah, I should mention that they haven't cheered up in this six year absence from my life, despite not having to deal with the tedium of office life.
If you can live with a bit of the morose and don't enter expecting forceful unforgettable hooks, and the distinctive dialects that rule the indie roost at the moment, you'll be fine. This is an album still vacuum packed from their early years, and it doesn't suffer as a result of this playing safe. Still, you can't help wondering what great things they could be capable of though, should they deviate, as I have been forced to, from that pleasant rut of summer 2002.
