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lowsunday, elegisum (Projekt Records): I don't know
when I've heard an album run out of gas more conspicuously, but for
its first six songs, lowsunday's elegisum is glorious. Steve
Albini once remarked that the problem with a lot of bands is that
they're slavishly imitating bands everybody's already heard instead
of copying interesting but obscure bands whose moves deserve to be
copped. lowsunday, perversely but without even a flicker of
self-referential humor, owe their most significant debt to Modern
English, whose fame unfairly rests on their somewhat uncharacteristic
hit single "I Melt With You." In the '80s, odd little bands like
Modern English thought they could change the world, and (like New
Order, another clear point of reference here) sometimes even tried
to. It's 2001 now, though, and lowsunday have no illusions about
their prospects for aboveground success, so the songs on
elegisum average about five minutes in length and make no
concessions to post-Talk Talk (or post-Talk Talk Talk)
production techniques. Their guitars conjure visions of ripples
spreading from a pebble's point of impact at the center of a pond,
while their vocalist wholeheartedly rejects the self-defeating irony
that made the '90s such a crashing bore and reaches for portentously
huge, grandly echoing notes as ride-cymbals crash over and over
against the one and three beats of each measure in the mix's high
end. "Darkwave" is the unfortunate term applied to the sort of
ongoing investigation of a few particular subcultural core values
that's been undertaken by lowsunday's label, Projekt. Projekt
deserves a closer look by anybody who's interested in questions of
genre or style, and lowsunday are at least worthy of a listen or two.
For six songs, they're practically evangelists of a musical approach
that replaces practicality with passion and feigned abandon with
closely considered indulgence. The first two minutes of the sixth
song, right before the album veers off into self-indulgence, are as
transcendent as anything you're likely to hear between now and the
next Jean-Luc Guillonet album. Since sales figures indicate that
there aren't many of you holding your breath for Guillonet's next
move, you'd do well to look into this one. — John Darnielle
copyright (c) 2001 michael goldberg | design by elephantcloud
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