Lorna

I was perusing ye olde Splendid as part of my daily surfing routine, and came across their review of Lorna’s Static Patterns And Souvenirs.  My only other real exposure to Lorna’s music had been the Blisscent 1 compilation, which left me with mixed feelings.  But Splendid’s gushing review sent me over to Words On Music’s release page, which includes two absolutely stellar MP3s.

Seriously, this is some of the best shoegazer/slowcore-ish stuff I’ve heard in quite some time. “Understanding Heavy Metal Parts I And II” is 5 and a half minutes of dreamy goodness, full of introspective melodies, layers of chiming guitars, wispy male/female harmonies, pensive lyrics, and even some lovely horn and harmonica arrangements for good measure.  And yet despite being packed to the gills with sonic detail, it doesn’t feel top-heavy at all, but simply drifts out of the speakers like so many summer clouds.

The second MP3, “The Swimmer”, is even more reserved, coasting along on some lovely slide guitar whilst ghostly voices giggle and sigh in the background.  Like the first track, the amount of instrumentation on display is quite impressive, and doubly so considering how it doesn’t weigh down the song.  I’m reminded of the sadly unknown Best Boy Electric at times, with maybe a hint or two of A Northern Chorus’ orchestral leanings.

All in all, a lovely little discovery for a Tuesday.

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• May 24, 2005, 12:00am