Last year, I became infatuated with Victoria’s Balacade, and the delicate lo-fi compositions Andrew Reynolds created under the cryptic moniker.
On his latest release, Specific Northwest, Reynolds still dabbles in lo-fi recording techniques, but the results push more towards the sounds from which Grandaddy constructed the foundation of their catalog. The Twin Peaks themed EP is only 28-minutes (10 plus of which are the closing track, “The Wind Over Twin Peaks” which adds a minute or two of minimal textures before jumping into a “hidden track”), but the the songs stick around longer than the short run time would suggest.
Reynolds builds tension with noises and electronics/synths that mesh with his quirky vocals and counterpoint the subtle, but well constructed melodies. The man versus machine battle that dominates tracks like “Roadhouse” and “California Frown” could easily be dubbed The Sophtware Slump 2.0, but that’s not to say that Reynolds has simply aped a critically acclaimed record from the past. The transition to expansive and atmospheric arrangements has been a natural progression, and Specific, Northwest feels more like the realization of the talent previous Balacade records hinted at. Ideas are presented and quickly summed up, using a concise perspective that keeps a record very entrenched in the sounds of the late 90′s/early 2000′s sounding fresh.
Download Specific, Northwest for free at Balacade’s bandcamp site. It’s a solid listen that deserves to be heard.
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MP3:: Balacade – Roadhouse
WEB:: http://www.balacade.com/