Dot-To-Dot is the band's first full-length album to be given a worldwide release and boasts an absorbing sound that flits between abstract experimentation and exquisite electro-pop.
Featuring the singles Dream of Bees (released digitally through Bandcamp) and Oceanic Landscape - a collaboration with Italian songwriter Franco Battiato - Dot To Dot achieves elegance and intimacy amidst polished production.
From the delicate dream pop of Sugar Is Gone to the stark opening bars of See You Sun, Lilies on Mars segue introspection with candor to offer a record that threatens brittle fragility but ultimately delivers an all-consuming warmth.
Comparisons will be sought, and whilst references emerge in the form of Cranes and Beach House it would be churlish to not acknowledge a band that sit very much in their own mold - a fact enhanced by the varied instrumentation on show - as an array of synthesisers jostle amongst vintage organs and a blend of live and digital drum loops.
And whilst there are guitars here too (borne witness by the swooning, ambient fuzz of So Far America), perhaps the most effective tool at the group's disposal is the immersive vocal talent of bandleaders Lisa Masia and Marina Cristofalo. For it is their hushed refrain that gives such depth and rarity to this wonderful record.
Dot To Dot is released today through Saint Marie Records, whilst digital copies can be found at Bandcamp.
"...elegance and intimacy amidst polished production..a record that threatens brittle fragility but ultimately delivers an all-consuming warmth."
ReplyDeleteWow, you have totally nailed it! So well put! I have been wondering how to review/describe this album...and have been preemptively superseded!