ARTICLES
Benoît Pioulard's Précis
Label: Dynamophone
Label: Hidden Shoal

ALBUMS
Aemae
A Lily
Arc Lab
Blotnik Brothers
Gui Boratto
Cagesan
Jeremy Caulfield
Loren Dent
Do Make Say Think
Eats Tapes
Enduser
Domink Eulberg
Explosions in the Sky
Michael Fahres
The Field
Frivolous
Maximilian Hecker
Hug
Hush Arbors
Jan-M. Iversen
Espen Jørgensen
Kattoo
O.Lamm
Bruce Levingston
Tobias Lilja
Lusine
Marcia Blaine School
The Missing Ensemble
Nebulo
Ölvis
Charlemagne Palestine
Palomar
Pornopop
The Postmarks
Propergol Y Colargol
The Retail Sectors
R/R Coseboom
Sankt Otten
Scratch Massive
Slow Dancing Society
Stars of the Lid
subtractiveLAD
Sunosis
Aoki Takamasa
Amon Tobin
Tokyo Mask
Kate Wax
Wes Willenbring
Windmill

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
Chaos.Lovers
Cryosphere
Hub: 2004-2005
Rufs
Satoshi Tomiie

3" /7" /10"/12"/EPs
Agnes
AM/PM
Arctic Sunrise
Audion
Characterize 1
Dartriix
Death is Nothing To Fear
Don't Be A Stranger
Einóma
Fusiphorm
Heartthrob
Human Nature
Infant Cycle / Antmanuv
Lilienweiss
Luci
Mauve
Paco Osuna
Ben Parris
Carola Pisaturo
Portable
Sutekh
System
Aoki Takamasa
Cortney Tidwell
Andy Vaz

Slow Dancing Society: The Sound of Lights When Dim
Hidden Shoal

Slow Dancing Society's (Washington-based musician Drew Sullivan) The Sound of Lights When Dim is one of the most beautiful albums I've heard in recent days. The moniker and album title alone perfectly capture the music's tranquil, late-night ambiance. Throughout the fifty-minute set, gentle streams of piano, organ, and guitars float in rapturous slow motion. Song titles like “A Song That Will Help You Remember to Forget” and “The Warm Familiar Smell of September” reinforce the music's nostalgic character though the music's dreaminess alone naturally induces reverie. It's a ravishing, often spine-chilling work that sustains its spellbinding quality from the first moment to the last.

Often, material of semi-ambient character is keyboard-centered but Slow Dancing Society's is clearly guitar-oriented. In the sumptuous opener “Be There,” glissandi guitars rise like creatures towards the light, while, anchored by the lulling rhythm of a recurring ‘tick,' electric guitars delicately weave throughout “A Song That Will Help You Remember to Forget.” Elsewhere, a repeated folk theme brings “The Warm Familiar Smell of September” closest to conventional songcraft before the slow-burning guitar lament “Lonesome Sentiment” brings the album to a magisterial close. At low volume, the material assumes an even-toned homogeneity that's belied by the constantly evolving layers of detail one hears at a louder volume. Closer listening reveals just how delicately modulated and graceful a piece like “West of 4 th (Kristina's Song)” truly is. Despite being magnificently understated, The Sound of Lights When Dim is nothing less than a triumph.

April 2007