*AS FEATURED IN SYDNEY'S Mx MAGAZINE*
Picture this: One of those annoying young couples that are totally in love and immersed in themselves, laughing, caressing and kissing each other as they head off on their first ever road trip, innocently unaware this long uncharted period of time together will either make or break their whole relationship. This is the album they would be playing in their car.
Tunng have brought together beautiful harmonies, soft vocals and excellent acoustic sounds backed by a myriad of instruments ranging from piano to banjo to synthesiser, however overall it all comes across a little too sickly sweet. While the arrangements are daring and complex a lot of it gets lost in the mix. At times the quiet love-laden vocals are almost inaudible under the deluge of layered instruments that are thrust at you through the fold. And yet somehow, despite all this, the songs end up sounding the same, their having used the same formula throughout the album just with different means. The one song that truly stands out - October - does so only because it’s almost a mirror image of Simon and Garfunkles’ version of ‘Scarborough Fair’.
Great changes were afoot in the Tunng camp of late and you can tell. Original singer, songwriter and group founder Sam Genders is no longer with the band meaning the induction of a new lyricist and lead vocalist. Though these tasks have since been fulfilled by two of the remaining five members the album comes across as confused and chaotic. Though there is artistic merit in their work and the talent is definitely there, ‘And Then We Saw Land…’ certainly does give the feeling Tunng is a band lost at sea without their Captain.
No comments:
Post a Comment