21 November 2006

1985 - where tomorrow lets us breathe (2004, Masa)

Shortly after the release of “Dawn Treading”, Matt Fuller seems to have received the opportunity of being recorded in a small studio. This was done by Bob Schwenkler.

“Where Tomorrow Lets Us Breathe” is mainly a new version of “Dawn Treading” with almost the same songs, as eight of the eleven songs here were already on the previous record in close 4-track versions.


So It’s not much to be said about these songs, as I’ve already done if for the “Dawn Treading” review, I’m not even sure that the new versions really bring something fresh original besides a better sound quality, it’s just that maybe the Jen Wood influence gains in intensity here.

At least we have three new songs. That’s already good. “Olive” is the best one, almost seven minutes long, quite emotional, sad and moving, hurt vocals and a sense of poignancy in the guitar playing. With almost the same length, “Benches and Bridges” sounds much more diluted, a shorter version could avec been better. Same opinion with “Eulogy for an invisible fly”, eighteen minutes long with long, experimental, ambient and noisy digression. These new songs also suffer from the absence of the typical 4-track sound and of the lack of urgency of the recording process, as, on previous albums, everything was almost written and recorded coincidentally.

I may like this album less than his previous one but it’s once again more than ever a recommended album, full of intimate and melancholic lo-fi bedroom folk songs. Available for free on Archive.org.

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