Hi guys, thereviewingturtleeater here again for another review. Been a little busy last week, hence there was no review. Hope this devastatingly long period without a new juicy review didn’t make you feel the urge of commiting suicide or eating olives. But who would come down to such a weird idea like eating olives anyway? I can certainly say I’d never do so.
Let’s come straight to business. Epic45 is a british ambient duo and is according to the two band members “a home recording project/collective” (quote from their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/epic45/112619985427761?sk=info) based on their musical ideas. Weathering is their sixth (fifth? seventh?) studio album and was released in June 2011. The album consists of 11 songs and runs approximately 53 minutes.
Weathering is definitely among my favourite “night-time” records since it is a really chilled out, atmospheric and ethereal piece of art, which I prefer to listen to at night. The songs mostly feature male vocals which are pretty subtle and gentle and fit perfectly into the musical atmosphere. Track 5 also features female vocals which quickly became one of my favourite vocal parts of the album. The album’s opener ‘People Say This Place Is Slowly Dying’ has some really beautiful guitars in it and the vocals create a warm atmosphere. Although the album is rather quiet the whole way through, there is a little noise stuff going on at the end of track 7 which was kind of unexpected during my first listens but I appreciate it nonetheless because it improves the transition to the next song. On this next song if I heard some dulcimer (if I’m not mistaken), which I also liked very much. My favourite song is the title-track: beautiful ensemble of violins, glockenspiel, ethereal vocals, subtle drumming. This song immediately appealed to me and made me think that this was probably going to come out if you’d mix Sigur Rós with No-Man. What I also liked about this album were sounds like church bells or birds singing which added up to this peaceful little world being created while listening to Weathering. This album was my first Epic45 album and I’m really looking forward to listening to their earlier stuff since this new LP really got me hooked with this band’s interesting and unique sound.
The structure of the album is the only thing that prevents me calling this thing a masterpiece. It is unfortunately a bit un-exciting in the middle. I wouldn’t call it boring, it’s just that the middle of the album consists of a bunch of really short songs and interludes where one of the longer songs on the LP would have fitted perfectly inbetween. The album does have a really good flow and cohesion, but one or two of the shorter songs in the middle could have been elaborated a bit more. That is all.
To sum up, Weathering is always (but as already recommended: especially at night) a good album to close your eyes to and let your mind wander. Let this dreamy atmosphere weave through your consciousness so you can enter another, perhaps more peaceful world for 50 minutes. This experience is of course not guaranteed, but I personally have it while listening to this album.
Favourite Song(s): People Say This Place Is Slowly Dying, Evening Silhouettes, Summer Message, Weathering
Least Favourite Song(s): –
Overall Rating: 8/10 (strong 8!)
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