Ebb - Loona

  by Sarah Mwangi

published: 3 / 4 / 2007

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Review

Stockholm-based Ebb dips his feet in British waters with the release of his debut album, ‘Loona’, for which he received a Manifest Award, (Sweden’s most prestigious award for independent music) for Best Electronic Album earlier this year. ‘Loona’ is full of cinematic illustrations of the nature that Ebb grew up and currently lives without in Stockholm. With a country soul, Ebb claims that his move to the city was daunting and so he created music to help with this transition and this shows on 'Loona'. The songs hold an idyllic soundscape of nature blended with fast-paced movements that mimics that of city life. I believe that for someone living in a city, listening to Ebb’s creations is a cinematic experience which offers a platform for escapism, where his music is the soundtrack to their imagination. Here you see nature and animals and feel the tranquillity that city life forbids you from having. Take the title track for example, which starts off with the dark scratches and unfamiliar echoes of a desolate city, soon to follow is Ebb, with angelic although creepy vocals. As if his voice is breathing new life into the streets, the emptiness disappears and is replaced by a gentle pounding beat with a simple guitar riff that imitates the calmness of nature. 'Minau' continues in the same vein whilst adding an element of immense space as you are transported to the bottom of the snowy Swedish mountains when your imagination awakens once more. Where all is still except the crunch of the snow as you walk and the sound of water trickling down the icicles of a frozen cave’s mouth. There are haunting vocals singing in a sometimes elusive tongue which are layered onto thunderous synth beats which threaten an avalanche from the mountains above. But even if the surrounding snow rushed towards you, the song’s hypnotic power would only make you see the beauty of being covered by all that white. Most of the songs are exceptionally scenic and in addition to that they possess the ability to be timeless. Timeless in the sense that the lengthy nature of some of them eludes listeners as the hushed vocals over repetitive deep beats puts them under a spell. ‘When Dust Begins’ is an example of this as it is just over nine minutes long but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Drawing from his experience before he moved to Stockholm, Ebb paints us a picture similar to that of nature programmes; when the creatures of the day give way for the nocturnal ones to roam free. Where the sun slowly sinks into the horizon leaving behind it darkened colours of reds, purples and oranges while Ebb sings a lullaby to the animals who gently yawn as they return to their resting place. A shuffle and a quickened pace later, the mood changes and sleeping creatures emerge from the shadows stretching their muscles as they see the full moon light the way for their midnight adventures. In ‘Loona’ Ebb has created an atmospheric and magical piece of music. Even though most songs have a chill-out effect on listeners, Ebb claims that "it could be so much more, depending on who’s listening to it and what they get from it – it’s up for interpretation." One thing all listeners will, however, agree on is that ‘Loona’ deserved the Manifest award for Best Electronic Album and that it should get the same kind of recognition here in Britain.

Track Listing:-

1 Loona
2 I'm All Made Of Music
3 Life Is On TV
4 With You
5 Silent Lucy
6 Minau
7 Stay Out Of Traffic
8 Keep Or Nothing
9 In Beauty
10 When Dusk Begins