- After nearly 15 years in the musical wilderness it was hard to tell how Seefeel might sound on their much anticipated return. Their first new material, however, shows they haven't had their head in the sand, blending a strong influence of dubstep and abstract noise to their unique take on pop and ambient. The results are most impressive on the opening title track where ex-Boredoms drummer E-da ekes out an unhurried beat underneath Mark Clifford's guitar, Sarah Peacock's vocoder voice and the well-placed noodlings of Shigeru Ishihara, AKA Brighton-based noise maverick DJ Scotch Egg. The whole is more than the sum of the parts and feels like a blissful, bass-light dubstep cover of a country tune. On the flipside, "Folds" almost sounds like a remix of "Faults," warped, stretched and, yes, folded into a Strawberry Fields-like tapestry.
Sadly, the rest of the release doesn't always hit the same heights. "Crowded" seems to want to go in the same direction as "Faults" and "Folds," but its heavier percussive presence gradually sinks without the added breath of vocals. And "Clouded" attempts to mix and match noisy textures into a pastoral soundscape, but there are plenty of better executed examples around. In short, Faults is full of promise and new directions, but still feels like a band caught in the throes of waking up to a new day and a new sound.
トラックリスト A1 Faults
A2 Crowded
B1 Folds
B2 Clouded