Published on Mar 9, 2000
Lamb are a British coed duo – Lou Rhodes (probably short for
Louise) and Andy Barlow, that are part of a trendy movement in
music known as electronica. The most celebrated group in this field
is another British band called The Chemical Brothers. The music in
general can be described as follows: cool, rhythm-heavy songs with
lots of electric keyboard sampling, plenty of percussion, and a
dreamy style of singing. Lamb and their recent CD,
Fear Of Fours, is no exception to this. However, I think
they do bring more to the table than my stereotype of the
genre.
The biggest strength that Lamb brings to
Fear Of Fours are the arrangements. They play around with
the sound by adding a string section on a few songs, a horn section
on others, and in some cases both, particularly on the song “All In
Your Hands.”
The arrangements are also the big star of the CD’s tour-de-force
called “Ear Parcel”. This instrumental piece manages to combine in
different sections, a big dance beat with new-age mellowness and
yet somehow make it work. Add a sampling of jazz great Charlie
Parker’s rendition of “How High The Moon” to the mix, and you’ve
got an impressive, imaginative piece of work.
The musicianship is better than I might have expected, and
particularly outstanding is Jon Thorne playing the double bass, and
it is on many tracks where his bass lines are the driving force to
the music. And he is adept at changing styles to suit the changing
styles of the music.
Rhodes’s singing does take a bit getting used to. Her voice is
not unlike recent singing sensation Macy Gray. Although not quite
as funky as Gray, they share a high pitched voice that at their
best moments seem to be channeling the late jazz singer Billie
Holiday.
This comes through on some of the jazzier moments, as fleeting
as they are. The best example is on “B Line” which definitely gets
into a jazz groove in the verse, only to see it vanish on the noisy
trip-hop chorus.
Now the question is how are the songs? For the most part, they
are pretty good. The best ones are “Bonfire” which is a slow,
haunting song with an effective arrangement of the string section.
“Here” would be my choice for the single as it moves along nicely
with a good beat and hook, but not without some surprises
instrumentally. The bass and the percussion are especially
hypnotic.
“Fly” is another satisfying, upbeat tune. When Rhodes sings
“Angels are going to take me”, the band makes it sound like it is
really happening. On the other side, the worst song has got to be
“Alien”, a silly song that recalls bad, arty science fiction
movies.
Electronica hasn’t quite hit the mainstream in the United
States, as we are going through (as of this writing) a Latin music
explosion. Frankly, electronica really is the antithesis of the
latin sound as it is cool and aloof compared to Latin’s heat and
passion. But don’t be surprised if it does eventually hit these
shores in a big way, after all, punk rock finally became
mainstream.
While I don’t think
Fear Of Fours is the CD that is going to start that musical
revolution, it is worth a listen for those wanting to hear a new
sound and should satisfy those that are already into this
music.