Review Summary: ATAL's debut release "Lafcadio" contains a rare cohesiveness and delicate balance to be envied by more popular artists. A truely hidden gem.
These guys are the best indie rock band you've never heard of, and it's actually surprising that no one really has.
I discovered these guys by accident a couple years ago while tooling around purevolume.com, and listened to a couple of the tracks they had up off of this release, and on a whim decided to buy the album. Thank God for that, because ATAL's debut release, "Lafcadio" is one of the most solid and interesting records I've heard in a very long time.
It starts off with "Break Blossom," a fast paced, bass driven number heavy on suspended guitar chords. The next two tracks are not memorable, but keep the fast pace right up until my personal favorite, "Carousel"--a slow paced, but emotional, heavy ballad. The record then comes to a screeching halt, in an almost cinematic fashion with the next two tracks, "Acrobat" and "Why We Cry at Movies" both of which start slow and soft, but pick up with masterful crescendos. The eighth track, an eerie instrumental called "My Glowing Morning Dreams" a proficient use of synthesizers and record production. It serves as a graceful segway into "A Ghost in Drag"--a choppy, distorted rock anthem. The last two tracks are softer and the album fades out nicely with "Goodnite, Noises Everywhere," a whisper-soft piano ballad.
This album is exceptional in one sense in that it is cohesive--to borrow from a cliche oft used on this website, its an album, not just a collection of songs. In another sense, "Lafcadio" stands out in that it is mature without being snobby, emotional without being "emo," soft, but not lacking in intensity. It's found a delicate balance and kept it throughout each of the 11 tracks.
I give it a 4.5, only because nothing's perfect.
