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Sunday 10 January 2010

Lone - Ecstacy & Friends

Jack at WERKDISKS dropped us a mail a few weeks back about the new Lone album, I sent it onto "The Night Times" reviewer Emile and this is what he came up with..

Artist: Lone
Release: Ecstasy & Friends
Record Label: Werk Discs

What is in a name? Much if you consider how Matt Cutler, otherwise known as Lone, manages to hold singular dominion in a space beyond the continuum of ‘popular’ genres and the critique that follows them. A bold statement to make, admittedly, but if his most recent album, Ecstasy & Friends, serves not to support it, logic suggests that little else will, making the question that is ‘what have you done lately?’ wryly apt.

The release evokes a spectrum of emotions ranging from the eponymous ecstasy to something more akin with contemplative melancholy. Through this is borne the strongest sense of ambivalence, which dictates that an audience listen on to find resolution. Ecstasy & Friends is a journey through the brightest hues of avant-garde Funk and Hip Hop into something that sits aloft and in lieu of the existence of these two giants. Endlessly and Apple Hi are the tracks that exemplify this point, with the former sounding uncannily like Kelis & Andre 3000’s Millionaire.

Soft pads, percussion of the greatest clarity and polyphonic melodic rhythms structure the album, but therein lies this piece’s one criticism; its tracks seldom vary from this formula, meaning that their characters seem to bleed and blend into one another. Whether this should be seen as problematic is a highly subjective matter, but one that may beset the album in its entirety. Is Ecstasy & Friends enough to quell such a question? I should think so.

Words: Emile

Buy the album: http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=245735

Lone Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/lonemusic

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great album