Loom
22 April 2014
Kanine
3.5 stars out of 5
Loom is the immediately
compelling debut LP by British indie pop/dream pop outfit Fear of Men. Singer
Jessica Weiss’s lyrics tend toward the dark side of things, though her voice
and delivery make the darkness seem friendly and inviting. While sticking
mainly to melodic dream pop with a slightly dark edge (see “Descent” for a
prime example), it has its almost experimental moments as well (“Inside”), though
these digressions are fully within the pop boundaries as drawn by the rest of
the album.
“Waterfall” and “Green Sea” pay homage to dream pop in the
classic vein—not as edgy as, say, Lush (the comparisons to Curve completely
baffle me), but full of shimmering guitars and minor key vocal melodies. “Tephra”
is the kind of thing that could end up on an offensively inoffensive café radio
playlist twenty years into the future, but don’t let that prevent you from
enjoying its supremely catchy excellence today. “Luna” is the most direct arrow
pointing at the shoegaze/dream pop legacy of London
Loom is a strong
debut, lacking anything that could qualify as filler. If Weiss and the gang
continue to move into darker territory while keeping their pop sensibilities,
Fear of Men will be an exciting band to watch in the future.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
No comments:
Post a Comment