Lowland Hundred - Under Cambrian Sky

by Lisa Torem

published: 30 / 5 / 2010

Label: Victory Garden
Format: CD

Enthusiastic, but unfocused debut album from ambient duo the Lowland Project who have attempted with this recording to detail the contrasting atmospheres of their native Aberystwyth

Review

It took a year to create a debut recording project which promised to detail the contrasting atmospheres of Aberystwyth. The Lowland Hundred, comprised of Paul Newland and Tim Noble, however, happily set out to do so. They wanted to examine, not just this geographical locale’s pastoral elegance, but the untamed wilderness as well. The Lowland Hundred also wanted to create not just structured songs, but “collaged noises” – the resulting sounds could evoke anything from tranquility to post-traumatic stress. These elements could randomly appear anywhere during a song. This Yin and Yang trajectory sounds brilliant abstractly – sweet tidings followed by elements of irony. That said, however, the album ‘Under Cambrian Sky’ misses the mark. While, the recording is a debut and the band demonstrates an honest desire to incorporate ambient noise and sound samples, sporadically, to articulate particular points, what has actually happened is that few of the seven songs are distinguishable. The titles are lovely; ‘Camera Obscura,’ ‘The Bruised Hill’ and ‘Anemone’ are but a few, but there’s quite frankly, no “there” there. It’s as if there’s a beautiful ballerina spinning around without being able to spot a blank wall – what could be graceful, is at times so disorienting, the original image diminishes. Though moments exist in which a pianistic progression set against a throaty vocal suggest a moving theme and resemble a ballad, without instrumental, lyrical or emotional hooks, the heart-felt concepts fail to fall on targeted ears. Still, The Lowland Hundred, it must be said, do love their surroundings and are anxious to exhale musically its extraordinary beauty. The cover art of sheep grazing under a powder blue sky is gorgeous) I am sure that this will happen given their unbridled enthusiasm. They just need to spend a bit more time finding their direction; not getting lost in translation.