Band: Lórien
Title: Esque
Label: N/A
Release Date: Feb. 28, 2009
Review By: Scott L
Tracklisting:
- Taking On
- Sowing Bad Seeds
- Do The Regret
- Shine Alone
- The Snake Or The Charmer
- We Speak In Smiles And Waves
- Make The Deadeye Miss
- Pick It Up Slow
- Let It Go
- Measurements
- Breaker Breaker
- A Mess Needs A Room
Now the word ‘-esque’ in the English language means to resemble something. You see a guy that’s super tall walking down the street wearing a stove-pipe top hat, you could rightly describe the guy as Lincoln-esque. Anyway, I’m sure you don’t need a recap of your high school English to get the point. So unless I’m missing something, the CD title seems strangely out of place, because if I had to choose a single word to describe Lórien… it certainly wouldn’t be ‘-esque’. These guys, and gal, must have majored in creativity and minored in uniqueness… because their music is, well, creative and unique.
Lórien is a 5-piece out of Nashville, Tennessee that plays an eclectic brand of indie rock that’s equal parts soothing and raucous. Think of something along the lines of As Tall As Lions, Lovedrug, or The Dear Hunter. As is sometimes the case, the desire to be new and different lends itself to straying a little farther over the edge of market appeal than may be intended. Such is the case with a few tracks, but not many. Lórien strikes a well-balanced posture sonically and manages to keep the CD pretty palatable.
Lyrically, Lórien is pretty non-intrusive. They keep things on an even keel without diving to terribly deep. Not much of an overtly spiritual element to the music as the songs stay fairly ambiguous. Delivery is a nice mix of male and female vocals although , at the risk of sounding overly puritanical, I did cringe a bit at the “stay the hell away from me” line that puts up periodically in the song “The Snake Or The Charmer”. Aside from that the song itself was one of the highlights of the CD. I’m just not into borderline language.
The standout track on this 12-song release was “Do The Regret”. It’s an atmospheric piece that’s heavy on the piano and even heavier on the mood. It also packs a powerful message. I also really dug “Pick It Up Slow” and “Let It Go”. The only song that I didn’t much care for was the CD’s closing track “A Mess Needs A Room”. It reminded me of a poorly done OneRepublic ballad and really ends the CD on a sour note.
Overall: Lórien’s “Esque” is a solid release and one that I was pleased to make the acquaintance of. Burn it to your iTunes delete the last song and enjoy.
www.myspace.com/lorien