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Recording:
  Seasons  
 
Artist:
  Landing  
 
Label:
  Ba Da Bing  
 
Release Date:
  7.May.2002  
 
Reviewed by:
  PostLibyan  
         
 
Rating:
   
         
 
Review:
 

In my previous review of Landing i have talked about the droning nature of their music and their general psychedlicalness. (Is that a word -- it should be!) Their music is wandering and sometimes noodley. Some folks interpret this as "lack of focus", and while that is true of Landing at times, in general they seem to do pretty well with their music.

Seasons seems to be a bit more focused than the other Landing releases i have. that is to say that rather then simply having a few very long songs Seasons is an album of 8 tracks, and they are honest to goodness songs not extended psychedelic jams. The songs don't exactly follow the verse-chorus-verse pattern, but they are less noodley and recognizable as songs for the most part. I mention this not because it matters to me one whit (i think both structured and wandering tunage have their places), but instead because i know that the semi-formless nature of Landing's previous releases has been a bit of a turn-off for some folks.

Seasons is also Landing's attempt to describe, through their impressionistic songcrafting, the progression of the year. Lucky them. They live in Connecticut, a state that actually has 4 seasons. I live in Atlanta, where we only have 2 seasons: Ungodly Hot and Rainy. Apparently in Connecticut they have things like "Spring" and "Fall". I wonder what those are like?. I kid, of course, but this album is, in a sense, Landing's version of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. It's not really concerto-like, so the comparison ends there. Seasons consists of 8 tracks, and i think it breaks down to 2 per season.

They start off with Fall Song, a lazy meandering tune. It is calm and reflective, and does, if you think about the title, bring to mind the calming colors and temperatures of my favorite season. Encircled is an even slower song with a long intro of guitar and voice. Eventually, the keyboard joins in, synthesizing deep space sounds. It brings to my mind cold evenings looking up at clear skies full of stars.

The cold theme continues through the next two tracks, First Snow and Ruins of the Morning. First Snow is a lovely tune featuring keyboardist Adrienne Snow's vocals overtop a layering of chiming guitars. Her keyboards soar and a tinkling of chimes does a good job of conveying the image of snowfall. Ruins of the Morning is a very similar song, with hushed vocals.

Spring kicks off with Clarke Street, which is another very light tune that slowly builds. Can't Hide Forever is a good little indie rock tune that even features drums (!). The male voice sounds really good here, and this is one of their most completely formed songs.

In A Car starts off with a guitar echo that reminds me of Pink Floyd, and then drones on lightly and lazily. It carries that sort of bored interestedness that i remember from childhood road trips. And then things wrap up with Blue Sky Away, another great indie song with a sunny little keyboard melody and light drumming.

On one hand, it seems as if the song titles and their placement in the seasonal cycle of the album might have influenced my thoughts on these songs. But that's not how i listen. The CD has resided in my CD carrier, and i had to go look up the song titles right now. So i have listened to this numerous times and made many notes without really being aware of the intention of the band. Really. I promise. And this tells me that Landing have been successful in crafting their song cycle about the seasons. Kudos to them.

But really -- this is a lovely album. If you are a Landing fan or if you enjoy drone rock in general, then this is a great release to have. If you are not so much into that sort of thing, well, i think that this is still a good album to get because Landing do focus a bit more on songcrafting here, and because they do it so well.

A lovely release.

 
         
 
Related Links:
 

Oceanless, the previous full-length from Landing.

 
         

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