(Sensory Projects/Inertia)

Comfortable experimentalism – Syd Barrett wept

Melbourne’s The Sun Blindness play dreamy ‘60s/’80s guitar music. Lacking a rhythm section, the duo could perhaps be best described as psych-folk, though some synth sounds do sneak into the mix. Tambourine and hand claps pass for percussion, while wide, stereo-panning guitars and pottering tremolo do their best to dazzle the senses. Breathy harmonies modulate with envelope-filtered chords, while cleanly picked guitar lines conjure images of idyllic pastoral settings. It’s ear candy in that sense – predominantly stationary sonic art. The songwriting is simplistic at best, and none of the tracks really manage tension, climax or resolution. Instead they flat-line from start to finish, and while that’s vaguely novel, it’s barely interesting. Sure, maybe I’m taking the wrong drugs, but I find the record cold, distant, and – subsequently – impotent. I want to engage it, but it’s so ponderous and intellectually aloof, like it was made on a steady diet antidepressants. Actually, that would be a pertinent statement about the modern world if it was.

JAKEB SMITH

Comments (1)

1. Written by Jess, on 20-10-2008 05:33 this album is lovely, like a warm bath, how you could find it cold and distant is beyond me.. silly boy

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