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5 |
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Loney, Dear |
| Loney, Noir |
| Sub Pop | 2007 | Album |
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I don't get it. Sitting in school desks and staring at math problems seems easier to me that understanding the aura this album permeates. At one end of the spectrum, the delicacy and tenderness of these songs springs the mind into a slumberous state, on another the harshness of the vocals and the overall mediocrity of the album reinstates consciousness.
Lonely Noir could drive a stake through the heart of the listener. It could also separate the listener from sanity. It is akin to reading a James Joyce novel—no bullshit—in that the album is well crafted yet the maddening abrasiveness of the style is seemingly meant to madden the senses. I can't for the life of me be negative or positive to this release. I straddle a borderline meant for deciding whether an album should be a guilty pleasure. I should be definitively finding a place for this album in the ongoing categorical file that runs through my brain. Is this on par with_________? Is it as bad as __________? I can't decide.
Instead, I break this down into categories: good label, bad vocals, decent music, ok lyrics, medium pacing, narrowly avoiding disastrous results but nowhere to be found in the upper echelon of recent records. I don't get it. It's not the vocals that makes this mediocre. It's not the artwork (which I like), the mood—I just don't get it. I don't feel anything for this album.
There you have it folks. A reviewer finally admits it—there is nothing remarkable or emphatic or grand or terrible or grating at all. The reviewer is defeated. Sub Pop wins. Lonely Dear wins. Somehow, I'm sure Jay-Z wins (don't ask). I lose. I don't get it, and I don't want to listen to this anymore. Submission by default—like a Coldplay record or a new U2 song: sure, whatever, right down the middle. This album is a contact hitter with decent infield instincts. Or not. I give it a five. That's middle of the road, right? |
| Jeff Laughlin |
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