|
NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY
cd reviews - July 30, 2013
Delarue
Driven
newyorkmusicdaily.wordpress.com
Gorgeous Noir Janglerock and Dreampop From the Lost Patrol
The Lost Patrol have been around in one form or another since
the late 90s. They started out as a cinematic soundtrack project, then
became a surf band more or less and about five years ago morphed into
a deliciously noir janglerock band, sort of the missing link between the
Church and the Cocteau Twins. The addition of frontwoman/guitarist Mollie
Israel pretty much brought them to their peak as a recording and touring
band. In an era when supposedly nobody makes albums anymore, this band
has ten (10) to their credit plus numerous singles and contributions to
anthologies. Their latest one, Driven, with its lushly clanging
unease and swirl, is streaming at the group’s Bandcamp page. They’re
headlining Otto’s – a venue far too small for a band this
good – at around midnight on Saturday, August 3 on one of Unsteady
Freddie’s surf rock nights with purist Connecticut instrumentalists
the Clams playing at 10 followed at 11 by powerhouse original reverb rockers
Strange But Surf.
The album’s first track, Spinning sets the stage for much
of what’s to come, an anthemic janglerock tune straight out of the
Church circa The Blurred Crusade. With its lingering guitars and sweeping
synth, All Tomorrow’s Promises sets Israel’s dreamy vocals
against guitarist Stephen Masucci’s tersely echoey resonance, a
spot-on evocation of the Church’s Peter Koppes. Chance of Rain is
a morbidly gorgeous, twangy 60s garage tune lowlit by Israel’s brooding,
elegaic vocals: “A chance of rain/Still remains/You tried in vain/To
wash away/All the stains you left behind.”
Israel takes the sultry menace just short of over the top with
Little Black Kitten, a slow, slinky, simmering noir organ/janglerock groove.
See You in Hell builds off a familiar old garage rock riff: where other
bands would take it straight to cliche central, this crew sways it gently
and lushly and makes it all the more ominous. The echoey, anxious, tonebending
sway of Burn Me Down brings back memories of the late, great late 90s/early
zeros New York rockers DollHouse.
There & Back shuffles along on a dark surf groove, followed
by the moody dreampop ballad Tell Me. Invincible looks back to the early
80s for its apprehensive new wave swirl, followed by Just Go, an abrupt
but impressive detour into torchy saloon jazz featuring Rob Schwimmer’s
jaunty ragtime-fueled piano. The two most Lynchian songs here wind up
the album: the propulsive noir 60s pop hit In Too Deep and then the towering,
angst-fueled Disguise. One of the half-dozen best albums of 2013, by this
reckoning: you’ll see it on the final list at the end of year here
if we make it that far.
[link]
BACK TO REVIEWS
|
