Rest Lurks

Albumbeschreibung

U.K. duo Lichen Slow comprises Arab Strap multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton and Joel Harries, a member of the bands Team Leader and 72% who also had folk-minded solo material under his belt before the two were introduced and, as Middleton put it, "just clicked." While the sounds of their separate output span instrumental noise-rock (72%), electronics-inflected indie folk (Team Leader), and somber indie (Arab Strap), as Lichen Slow, they embrace the sadcore elements of the latter band and Harries' solo work on their melancholy debut, Rest Lurks. Reportedly the last song they recorded for the album, debut single and highlight "Hobbies" establishes the duo's patient, intimate atmospheres and relentlessly candid lyrics. Featuring both the deep and craggy, Matt Berninger-esque Middleton and angelic-voiced Harries on vocals (as well as backing singer Quincey May Brown, the album's only guest), its stream-of-consciousness observations touch on both the personal ("I hold you in my arms and I think about death") and political ("Jobs for all the rich kids out there/Hobbies for the poor"). Accompanying them is a midtempo pattern of muted bass drum and snare, a repeated guitar vamp, gentle horn interjections, and hushed synth ambience. Midtempo is as fast as it gets here, with the exception of the anxious "Preset," which vents about the contemporary music scene against similar instrumentation, even when delivering its frustrated, explicitly worded chorus. The bulk of the record, however, is languid and reflective, as it moves through songs with titles like "Tense," "Pain Ctd," "Hopeless Cause," and "Imposter Syndrome," the latter representing one of the more rock-leaning entries, in that it features bass and a full drum kit. The unhurried 12-song set ends with "Garden Gate," which gives context to the album's title with the line "Rest lurks at the garden gate, watching me stumble in the weeds" and caps off a moving, occasionally haunting debut that begs for a follow-up.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo