Music Review: A Lull - Confetti

A Lull. Taken on its own, that certainly sounds boring. Can you believe that is actually the name the band? Just when you thought all the good names may be taken, you find you just may be right. I kid. Seriously, it just strikes me as an uninspired name that is not likely to garner a lot of attention sitting on the shelf. Maybe I am wrong , anyway, what's in a name? It sort of reminds me of Lonely China Day, who I enjoy very much. As it turns out, A Lull's latest release, and my first exposure to the band, is actually quite interesting.



The album is called Confetti and the music very much resembles the colored bits of a paper. If there was a way to visualize the feeling of this sound collective it would be with confetti. Picture, if you will, a long canyon of buildings, not unlike what you would see down 5th Avenue in New York City. Metal, glass, and concrete pillars stretched way up into the sky and extending as far as you cam see. Now, imagine that it is a bright clear day and the road is clear of all cars and pedestrians. Falling into view are a few flitting bits, dancing in a light breeze, flitting unpredictably through the air. Little by little, more and more pieces of confetti enter your view until it nearly fills all that you see with things to look at. That beautiful sight is the visual experience of listening to Confetti.

This music is hypnotic in is layers. There are all manner of sounds, lots of percussion that build and build with other strings and synth sounds, building and falling, not unlike a tidal wave of perpetual motion. Everything is led by vocalist Nigel Dennis, whose voice is laid back, relaxed, and often used as more of a conveyor of sounds so much as a transport for words.

I like this album. It is not a love situation, but there is a lot to like. This is music to relax to, put on a set of headphones, lean back, and drift into the complex indie pop layers of A Lull. What is interesting about it is that as chaotic as it can be, it is always rather soothing. It offers a lot of choice of how exactly to listen to it. You can choose the relaxing, hypnotic route, or you can focus on the myriad layers of sound and how they interact with each other.

Confetti is something to like, it is a bit of an anomaly amongst my collection, but it is a welcome addition. This is a band that offers an interesting flavor. At times the songs may meld into one another giving the impression if being a single song, but there is still enough to appreciate that it doesn't much matter.

Recommended.