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Various
Artists: Sunsets and Silhouettes Compilation
Compilation albums are designed to achieve select goals, such as showcasing the talent of an artist catalogue or assisting fans who consistently search out rare tracks from established favorites. Creating a compilation album requires all the care that the inaugural mix tape for your significant other demands: set the mood, keep it strong and varied, and make the surprises pleasant. For following these unwritten laws, Planting Seeds Records has earned my respect. Their latest compilation is the professionally crafted, highly enjoyable, and accurately titled Sunsets and Silhouettes. Sunsets and Silhouettes covers the large, warm territory of British and American indie folk and pop. Such broad terms could threaten that Planting Seeds attempted too much, but the stylistic influences present are actually focused, as the title suggests, on music suitable for evening drives and porch-side suppers. Aside from a few small missteps, the album succeeds. Almost every track carries the melodic weight of twilight music, but they range from atmospheric down-tempo to space country and Brit-pop. Respected artists grace the album; Camera Obscura and the prolific Reid brothers (in two separate bands now) all contributed. They are joined by bands whose work seems just as promising as those whose names I recognized. In fact, the standout tracks throughout the album were all from bands deserving further investigation. Astropop 3 (incidentally, the creators of the Planting Seeds label) is fronted well by a soft nasal drone; Fiel Garvies soft electronic I Didnt Say is sung by a sweet but not cloying young woman, accented with pleasant electronic flourishes and a thrumming backbeat. Pinkie contributed the lovely Shes Dead, string-heavy and reminiscent of South. Camera Obscuras acoustic Books Written for Girls is a wonderful version, seeming even warmer than the album cut from Underachievers Please Try Harder. Back on the Water is almost nostalgic, thanks to the fact that Freeheat (with the unmistakable and welcome Reid voice) have literally picked up where the Jesus and Mary Chain left off. The Voyces have beautiful harmonies, and Asteroid #4 employs both harmonica and pedal steel to achieve a great Pink Floyd country sound. The album continues apace, and each song is noteworthy, except perhaps Mark Gardeners Snow In Mexico, which runs too close to mainstream for my taste, and Fonda, whose pleasant 70s track opens the album but does not fit the mood of the record. Sunsets and Silhouettes works well as an introduction to quality independent music; in fact, it would be a great primer to start a novice listener. It was also the first compilation in recent memory that truly works as a cohesive experience, not a showboat. The only caveat to a compilation is that it can succeed in the creation of a mood, but each band will require the listeners research; the selected track may be the only piece of its kind produced by the artist. Nonetheless, Sunsets and Silhouettes remains a highly recommended release, worthy of your attention.
This album can be purchased at Amazon Planting Seeds Official Website About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
