Blue Angel Lounge - A Sea of Trees

by Carl Bookstein

published: 10 / 6 / 2014

Label: A Recordings
Format: CD

Haunting and melancholic third album from Velvet Underground-influenced German band, the Blue Angel Lounge

Review

The Blue Angel Lounge took their name from the club in New York City that offered Nico of Velvet Underground fame her first live performance in America. The band formed in 2006 after meeting at school in their German village of Hohenlimburg. ‘A Sea of Trees’ is their third album, and the follow-up to the Anton Newcombe (of Brian Jonestown Massacre) assisted-in-production ‘Narcotica’. The opener ‘Winter’ is positively haunting, starting the recording off with a rich, cascading flow. The Blue Angel Lounge immerses its listener in a sea of sound from the get go - simultaneously mellifluous and stark. The effect is startling, as Nils Ottensmeyer sings about darkness and emptiness with a detectable Nico vocal influence. ‘Desolate Sands’achieves a poignant effect, somehow bringing to mind both barren landscapes and a feeling of longing. The band utilizes guitars, harmonium and a searching use of experimentation. A noticeable Velvet Underground compositional influence is also present. ‘Walls’ is an offbeat love song: “When you break this wall/I will follow you to every place you go” and ‘As Cold As The Moon” possesses a sad and lonely refrain. Blue Angel Lounge create sonic soundscapes, at once psychologically spare and musically lush, with that ever-present distinctive German male vocal in the forefront, singing about reoccurring themes of isolation and loneliness. ’Plane Communication’ speaks to emotional transportation and dreams. ‘The Pain You Got From Me’ closes the recording with the same sense of haunting flowing sound with which it began. The effect is unique and memorable- ‘A Sea of Trees’ a worthy successor to their last album 'Narcotica'.

Track Listing:-

1 Winter
2 Melloch Halb & Halb
3 Desolate Sands
4 Mutter
5 Woods (Sea of Trees)
6 Walls
7 As Cold as the Moon
8 In Distance
9 Quartz
10 Plane Communication
11 The Pain You Got from Me