March is shaping up to be a good month.
In my last update, we discussed two March releases, The Whitest Boy Alive's Rules and Technicolor Health, by Harlem Shakes. Deerhunter guitarist (and occasional vocalist) Lockett Pundt will be releasing The Floodlight Collective on March 23.
Image Courtesy of AmazonA good friend of mine recently turned me onto Lotus Plaza, and The Floodlight Collective is, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, a wondrous achievement. While the bulk of the album is structurally and lyrically low-key, the heart and soul of the record feels cathartic and heart-wrenching. It's shoegazey, yes, but do not mistake its subtlety for a lack of substance.
"Quicksand," the second track on the record, is a brilliantly constructed build-up that culminates with a heavily layered, sonic finale lifted straight out of the Loveless textbook of thematic music-making. Pundt effortlessly creates a the iconic "swirling wall-of-sound," and the murkier elements of 2008's Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. are ever present throughout the album's 45 minute runtime, despite being more nuanced than Deerhunter's acclaimed release. Microcastle is a bit more straightforward, whereas The Floodlight Collective invites us to get lost in its dreamy haze. The track "These Years," for example, comes in immediately following the "release" at the end of "Quicksand" and effectively drowns out the whole thing with a quiet moment of hymnal vocals and ambient noise.
To me, the best part about "Quicksand" is its finely-tuned progression, which steadily builds upwards before reaching a climatic, emotional outburst that really gets ya in the gut.
I'm very happy that this record was brought to my attention and even more happy to share it with everyone. Highly recommended.
Lotus Plaza - "Quicksand" (ZShare)
Lotus Plaza - "Quicksand" (YouSendIt)
0 comments:
Post a Comment