The Loom has been active in the NYC scene for quite a few years already, so it was kind of unexpected to find out that "Teeth", the album they released on 11.01, is actually their first full length. The band got (deserved) write ups in most music blogs, and was also covered by The New Yorker - which is actually not too surprising, since they can sound kind of highbrow at times. They play a very original brand of alt folk somewhat reminiscent of a more rustic version of early Gomez (see streaming track "Helen"). Their darker and tenser songs (which represent a good share of their output) bring to mind the powerfully moving spoken word singing style of Tindersticks, a phenomenal British band from the aughts not many Americans fell in love with. The Loom has already embarked on an east coast tour - there's not a NYC date scheduled yet though.
We've always been big fans of Luke Temple, and it's good to see that, together with the Here We Go Magic crew, the man is keeping at it with increasingly beautiful records and videos. The band's new album "A Different Ship" (stream it here) will be out on May 8, and betrays at least a partial return to Luke Temple's more intimate and melodic sound from his solo repertoire - in this regard, lend a ear to "Hard to Be Close," "Alone but Moving" and "Over the Ocean". This is welcome news for fans like us who always thought that in most HWGM material Luke's noteworthy songwriting skills seemed a little sacrificed on the altar of textural experimentation. This doesn't mean that the band's signature hypnotic, impressionistic sound is lost - it's just that these two elements work together better than they did in past records, and this is what makes this album one of the NYC highlights of the year so far. Indeed, this collection also features songs more in line with the band's past releases ("Make Up your Mind", "I Believe in Action"), which follow on the steps of brainy-pop icons like Brian Eno and The Feelies, but there's definitely a balance here, also betrayed by the almost perfect alternation of melodic songs and less traditional ones.The just released video of "How Do I Know," telling the story of a rejected dancing robot that ends up revitalizing an older man's appreciation for life, seems to reflect on this brain/heart, mechanic/organic dichotomies and somehow bring them to unity. - PDG
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