Lion Hall - Rhizomes (Tiny Lights Records)
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| Lion Hall - Rhizomes EP |
Release date: 29th April
Boy-girl duo Lion Hall are a
frustrating little outfit. On the one hand, their sparse atmospherics with
broad Scottish accented vocals are a chilled out delight. But on the other
hand, this EP feels like it might have been a bit rushed. There are obvious
(maybe too obvious) connections to be made with the XX which is no bad thing
but apart from vocalist Ana's wonderfully lilting burr, there's not a huge
amount to make Lion Hall stand out. The opening track of this four track
collection, 'Rhizomes', would probably be perfect if used over the top of
footage of a bleak pebble beach with an oil refinery in the background but on
this EP it just feels like filler and you should never, every start an EP with
filler. It's like serving orange juice as a starter, nobody is impressed you've
let everyone down at the first hurdle. Thankfully, 'Colour Me' rescues this
collection immediately with those aforementioned vocals wafting and weaving
over a sparse musical landscape of distant guitars and soft drums. 'Behave'
starts promisingly but seems to descend in to a watered down version of
Everything But The Girl which is, again, disappointing. The EP finishes up with
'Magnetic Forces' which has a real feeling of mournful loss about it before promising
a crescendo but actually only delivering a quick fade out. Like I said, Lion
Hall leave me frustrated. I want to put this music on in a dark room and just
let it wash over me but it's not quite smooth and seductive enough to properly
wallow in. More time and more introspective thinking needed before the next
effort in my opinion but I definitely want to hear that next effort.
More information: www.facebook.com/lionhall
Live Dates:
25th May - Evolution Emerging Festival