The Answer Is In The Beat

Fenster: The Pink Caves (Morr Music, 2014)

March 5, 2014 at 11:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Second album from Morr Music dreampop group Fenster, and a vast improvement on their pretty-but-forgettable debut. Arrangements have minimal elements but (of course) big lush reverb, the songs are well written and pretty, the (slightly surfy) guitar hooks are light but tremolo-filled and catchy, there’s male and female vocal harmonies, and some of the lyrics are haunting, maybe even disturbing, but still gorgeous. “Better Days” starts with busy drum trills, then settles into sleek, slow-midtempo indie-pop. “Sunday Owls” adds a bit of a Lynchian dramatic, mysterious atmosphere, with traces of fuzzy, mutating guitar and/or synth effects. “In The Walls” is more sleek and smooth but somewhat dark and strange indie-pop with trippy effects on the vocals and instruments. “Cat Emperor” introduces the dual male/female vocal harmonies. “True Love” is a dark murder ballad where the singer plans to kill her true love, turning ’50s rock ballads on their twisted heads. “Mirrors” continues taking the album’s sound down a weird slow minimal exotica path, with layers of spooky vocal harmonies and echo-drenched chirping and scraping in the beginning. The rhythm picks up during the second half. “Fireflies” is a brief, quiet, whispery interlude. “On Repeat” is a bit more uptempo, with a more consistent tapping rhythm, and a bit more of a hook, and some nice vocal effects during the second half. “Hit & Run” is another uptempo catchy number, with male and female vocals, a good weepy guitar hook, and more strange vocal sounds in the background. “1982” has another small but sturdy rhythm, floating guitar effects, male vocals which slip into falsetto, and minimally but tastefully used analog synths. “Creatures” is a downbeat closer with a beatless guitar drift-out about a minute into the song before the second verse comes in, and another one to end the song. Really an unexpectedly solid album, I guess maybe for fans of Beach House or The xx, but subtly trippier, and I enjoy it way more than those bands.