Bell Horses Breaks Free With Debut Album
Xian Hawkins and Jenny Owen Youngs start out solid.
Bell Horses
This Loves Last Time
Released on Oct 13, 2009
Bell Horses, The latest collaboration
between electronic musician, Sybarite (Xian Hawkins), and singer/songwriter,
Jenny Owen Youngs, is a mash up of dreamy pop and hypnotic electronic
wizardry. The unlikely duo, with the help of Alexander Ericson
(Alberta Cross, Stjarna), who contributes vocals to several tracks on
the album, drummer, Michael Lerner (The Antlers, Frenchkiss), and classical
string player Eve Boltax, create an inspired debut album.
As eerie as it is moving, This Loves Last Time, represents an integral gap between the world of electronic music and folk-pop. With faded drumming, dreamy acoustic guitar, spacey effects and distant, gentle vocals, Bell Horses have managed to create an album this is neither here nor there. The relaxing, ambient trends that make up This Loves Last Time’s unique disposition may just be what’s holding it back from the true potential this band holds.
“Still Life,” the album’s premier track, is a shimmering exploration into a ghostly love affair. Twinkling with synthy beeps and boops, combined with strings and acoustic guitar, this track exhibits Jenny Owen Youngs’ voice like no other song on this album. The mourning overtones in her typically folky style singing are stunning.
Keeping with the ambient theme, “The
Comb,” which appears about midway through the album, is vivid and
flowing. The following track, “Photograph,” brings back the
beat with Alexander Ericson’s smooth vocals combined with brighter
synth leads and samples. Less murky and distant than the rest
of the album, this track show’s a more poppy side of the band.
After examining ambient, poppy, and dreamy elements, Bell Horses seem most at ease on the song, “The Storm.” Even though it’s only a smidge over two and a half minutes long, “The Storm,” may be the clearest representation of Bell Horses’ ideal sound. Combining all the elements that previously dominated songs, in equal doses they measure out to create an impeccably peaceful song. Not overly electronic, everything seems to be in limbo with this one. The album ends with the adequate, but not spectacular by any means, “Dust of Us.” Youngs’ singing is once again in top form, but the instrumentation for this one doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, leaving the track regrettably anticlimactic.
While by no means a poor album in any
respect, This Loves Last Time, falls just short of being memorable,
but treads just far enough to provide a pleasurable listening experience.
At some points this album feels a little too much like a musical tug-of-war
between the backgrounds its members, and not enough like a true melding
of idea. But with a little bit of coaxing, and some time to grow,
this band could be one to keep an eye out for.
High Point
“Still Life” is ghostly enough to make it enduring and thoughtful enough to make it memorable.
Low Point
In an album this barren, I’m gonna need a little more effort than the lackluster performance delivered in “Billowing."
Posted by Andrew Scott on Oct 27, 2009 @ 6:00 am
