Terror Bird - All This Time
The curious moniker
of shadow pop is (Unlike many more recent genre describing verbs) extremely
effective. Indeed, you can hear the cold landscapes of Terror Bird's native Canada in
the music here and it’s that foreboding enchantment that vibes the most over
the course of the album. The synth and key melodies are simple yet imbued with
a plaintive beauty that lets the often bittersweet lyrics come out like they
were meant to.
The monochrome album
jacket sets the tone and with tracks such as the early-nineties Moby like (in
production terms, at least) On Your Vacation it hits the golden road to excellence.
There’s a liberating feel to the songs on All This Time and you can easily
imagine sending a care free, fuck the next morning style mellow night on the
town with your favourite people with this music as your soundtrack. Synth can
sometimes be an oppressive thing but there is warmth here that makes you want
to embrace this initially cold music fully.
The title track
features a trip-hoppy industrial rhythm mixed with the aforementioned warm
synth tones and it’s in these melodies it shines. The harmony vocals also add
much to the scene and it would occasionally be nice to hear them without the
beats accompaniment. There’s a gothic vibe to Locket, small doses of pop melody
mixing with the key board lines drawing you into the song. The chorus, with its
constant repetition of ‘now it makes feel sad’, brings a certain melodrama to
the musical masterstrokes and it’s a definite highlight.
Lust and Violence
begins a gothic drum and bass line fuelled journey to the end of the record and
it’s a thrilling one indeed. As the song says, ‘lust and violence go together –
and I won’t try to stop you’ and it’s this sentiment that echoes in the dark
tone poems that constitute the background instruments. The whole album feels like a product of now
but there are elements of the mellow trance scene from the early nineties and
the emo/goth sensibilities of bleak but melodic songs.
This album is a
grower and it most definitely is a worthy listen for all you like their music
cool but very collected.
Reviewed by Sebastian
Gahan.