Word: pianos
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...fantastic, a full lounge with couch and an enormous sound system, single bedrooms sprouting off to the side. Rubin’s own room is filled with music equipment; he’s a music major now, and he’s really good on the piano. He and his roommate Dave are in a band together, and they’re always recording in Rubin’s room. There is an enormous Mac desktop, synthesizers and drum pads, keyboards...
...powerful vocal style. Unfortunately, many of the songs are so mindlessly bland that it is easy to mistake her tasteful emoting for unfeeling coldness. “Morning Bird” is one of the few tracks which highlights and supports her unique vocals. The song traces a staggering piano figure down the sinewy and reserved melodic fragments that Adu shakes down with melancholic elegance. Here, her lack of obvious emoting benefits the song and her voice sounds more powerful than on most. The percussion is minimal—a tambourine shivering over the steady heartbeat of a kick drum...
...cursory glance, “Falling Down A Mountain,” the eighth LP from British group Tindersticks, seems to embody the helplessness its title evokes. Track titles like “Piano Music,” “Harmony Around My Table” and “Peanuts” imply an almost diminutive cuteness; frontman Stuart Staples’ baritone warblings often tremble with a mix of emotion and uncertainty, as if he’s on the verge of tears but isn’t sure why; and the minimalistic piano melodies often hesitate...
...fourth track, vacillates between minimalism and complexity, epitomizing how “Falling Down A Mountain” fares best when Tindersticks employ more, rather than fewer, of the elements at their disposal. Female vocals provide a pleasing contrast with Staples’ unmistakable baritone, as do the piano and loose, bluesy guitar, but the bare aesthetic risks alienating fans of the band’s multi-instrumentalist approach. Thankfully, synths, strings and horns come to the rescue halfway through, filling out the song’s meager build and preventing it from going the tedious...
Despite such somewhat flawed experiments, “Falling Down A Mountain” contains many songs that will appease long-time fans. The notable “Harmony Around My Table” boasts toe-tapping drum beats and a sportive tambourine, providing solid accompaniment to jaunty piano reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian. Vibraphone and hand claps, as well as the background “doo-wops” and “la-la-las,” imbue the song with genuine charm. It doesn’t quite match the innovation of the more experimental tracks...