I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun
Chimes And Bells
1. The Mole
2. Reasons
3. The Dot
4. This Far
5. Do The Right
6. Pool
7. Kranen
8. Lashes
7. Kranen
8. Lashes
Ethereal melancholia: sluggish anti-speed delirium, warped in a
baritone, empyrean wonderland of instrumental, Scandinavian simplicity.
That is Danish-band ‘Chimes & Bells’: a twisted liquorish all-sort of ‘Flashy Python’ meets ‘The XX’,
where even the euphemisms dark-chocolate or espresso-black pale in
comparison to its pessimistic undercurrent of complete and utter
darkness. ‘Interpol’, eat your heart out.
With my insatiable hankering for something bluesy surprisingly satisfied, I return to Highly Evolved
after nearly a month of soul-searching midst assignments with an album I
just can’t seem to put down. Their official, self-titled debut emerges
after their critically acclaimed EP, “Into Pieces Of Wood”, successfully released ‘09 to ever-growing recognition and positive-reception. Debut-comparisons are the likes of ‘Tame Impala’ (“Innerspeaker“), with a refined calibre of uncategorical style and technique. While the overused tag of indie fails to encompass even the slightest margin of ‘Chimes & Bells’, it is similarly rash to singularly suggest either alternative, rock or even post-rock
in its place. For at times, it will be all of these things, and then
none of these things; a mixture of conflicting acoustical/electrical
instrumentation – guitar, percussion, synth, saxophone and string are
only the beginning. To listen is to shoegaze: drift across the
room as a ghostly astral projection pinned helplessly against the wall.
Those optimists still teddy-hugging their pillows to sleep best turn
away, for ‘Chimes & Bells’ is anything but happy…
Cæcilie Trier, twenty-six-year-old Danish multi-instrumentalist, is the architect behind ‘Chimes & Bells’, previously a part of such bands as ‘Le Fiasko’ and ‘Choir Of Young Believers’. Spearheading vocals, Trier is like an antimatter Florence Welsh from “Florence + The Machine”. A ten-piece band in all, consisting of: Hans
Emil Hansen, Jeppe Brix Sørensen, Silas Tinglef Hageman, Jannis Noya
Makrigiannis, Jaleh Negari, Jakob Falgren, Jeppe Skjold, Sonja LaBianca and Maja Zander.
Just shy of the forty-minute mark, “Chimes & Bells” is
teasingly short, but nevertheless enjoyable – without distasteful
fillers. Instead, a rather filling eight-track listing averaging around
four- to six-minutes each. Whether it’s the minimalistic approach
towards instrumental-coupling, guitar and saxophone, percussion and
guitar, or simply Trier herself with everything else conspiring together in unity, nothing seems overdone, outdrawn or oversimplified.
The tracks resemble melodramatic sludge, oozing and ebbing with tidal
angst and malevolent undertones; where pace seems underdog to
gargantuan displays of exhaustive lethargy. The dominance of Trier
on vocals, in tandem with an almost unyielding combination of
guitar-percussion duets, manifest throughout the album in one form or
another. Lyrically, words are predominantly distorted in a thick haze
of synth, while vocals are resonantly-airy. Its bluesy-jazzy atmosphere
reeks of solitude, of late-night wanderings through the underground, a
manifesto of the shadow. While their unique flavour remains unvarying
within each song – enough to allow a casual bleed from one track to the
next seamlessly – it is not enough to impact on their individuality. And
being characteristically monotone in effect, crescendos are rounded to
the consistency of a dull roar.
“The Mole” opens for “Chimes & Bells” with a relatively hushed beginning, reduced to the skeletal bonds between Trier,
the solo hum of an impending synth-scape and the occasional sound of
glass bells tolling. The introduction of string conforms the urgency
within the vocals into an understated crescendo where everything else
just sort of tumbles into place at 1:52. The electro-acoustical
harmonies flow effortlessly together, bleeding out and into “Reasons”, where the ethnic, Asian-qualities of a mandolin help to offset Trier in a sort of role-reversing lead. When drum-kit percussion appears at 2:02, the track peaks slightly – and like “The Mole”, everything just eases into place without much need for an explosion. Then this couplet ends, dying away in place of “The Dot” which starts this elegant process all over again.
Tracks like “This Far” and “Do The Right” feature dominating guitar riffs in a simplistic style akin to ‘Interpol’
– their integrity is held together through tidy riffs altering scale
but not form. Solos are in turn sacrificed for this repetitive order,
and instead act like keynotes or signifiers for ease of recognisability.
This same attribute is then turned on its head, following the end of “Do The Right” where saxophones play off one another leading up to “Pool”, where the guitar dominates in a particularly beautiful solo, descending through an effortless string of notes.
“Lashes”, finale for “Chimes & Bells”, is similarly timid and withdrawn in nature. Trier
features more explicitly, surrounded less-so by her instruments during
speech than previous, which are left to reinforce her breaks. Its
miniature crescendos are really the only place where they combine more
avidly. But it isn’t enough to look at this track as an ending for “Chimes & Bells” – because of its tracks’ (overall) well-rounded construction – any one of them could be a beginning, and just the same, an end.
What frightens me the most is that this astoundingly brilliant debut
had the potential to slip through my fingers unnoticed; I just happened
to stumble upon it by accident. And while I wish there was more that “Chimes & Bells”
could offer, I write this review wholeheartedly satisfied because of
its rewarding impact. I cannot underline its faults, but I think I’ve
boot-licked it enough. It is simply epic…
Reviewer’s Pick: “Reasons”
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