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MH-276 A Lull - Confetti  Confetti, the life-affirming debut from Chicago’s quintet, A Lull, grabs your attention from its first explosion and deconstructs you further with each subsequent, colorized blast. The band has spent glorious ages supplementing layers of guitars, bass, electronics and vocals by banging on drums (as well as recording rustling bags of trash, throwing bottles against walls and pounding away at anything in sight), eventually coming to the cacophonous percussion and everything else wall of sound that makes Confetti's sound unmistakable. The fervor of these endlessly layered, volatile songs is cooled by the voice and lyrics of Nigel Evan Dennis, who covers the grandiosity of each track with his emotionally entangled lyrics. Though the aural tone of Confetti is one of almost overwhelming joy, a sense of longing and regret is palpable between the lines. It’s as if every song is being sung to the face of a loved one at their breaking point. Though their sound is unmistakably their own, the concise romanticism harnessed by A Lull can at times conjure the songwriting ethos of Bon Iver, the instrumental indulgence of Sufjan Stevens or the garishly sensual emotional lift of Explosions In The Sky. Confetti's sense of hope and musical perfection captivates. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| A Lull is like the current crop of Blitzen Trappers and Fleet Foxes all playing at once. - The Village Voice / A Lull stand eerily and mightily apart from their contemporaries. - MP3 Hugger / Think about every time you’ve wanted to immerse yourself in the sheer energy and force of an album, now take a look at Confetti and give yourself an experience. - The Line Of Best Fit |
| Reviews |
| On the surface A Lull appear to another in a long line of modern pop bands that use the the studio as an instrument more than, well, actual instruments. While their full-length debut, Confetti, will undoubtedly bring comparisons to the indie favorites Animal Collective and even local up-and-comers Yawn and Netherfriends, A Lull are a completely different animal altogether. Yes, Confetti offers airy soundscapes and trance-like vocal melodies, but A Lull exchanges harmonic loops for a barrage of digital-jungle rhythms that keep their music pulsating with life. Though Confetti sounds like a variable mishmash of styles and genres -- spanning from gamut of art rock, ’80s-era electro-pop, industrial and even progressive rock -- A Lull’s musical successes come in the record’s tension between melody and rhythm. For every soaring vocal take, rhythmic movements, whether from a drum machine, computer or analog instrument, are pushed just as loud in the mix to give the music a driving edge. Underneath these tribal beats and melodic chanting, A Lull adds tiny nuances and flourishes, such as the gentle guitar strums near the conclusion of album opener “Weapons For War,” which adds to the richness of their sound. There are no, excuse the terrible pun, lulls on Confetti. Though some songs begin quieter than others, each track is built like a wave and builds organically into something quite grandiose. “Mammals” wastes no time powering to full steam with a machine-like noise section, but eases up moments later before morphing into a melodic chorus that melds sparkling and crooked synthesizer lines. There’s quite a bit of a Jónsi influence in slow build introduction of “Dark Stuff,” which gives way to a thick warble of electric guitar over which a trance-like vocal line leads the way to an big, clattering finish. The take “Water & Beasts” builds off a simple, but very deep, bass drum cadence, it’s the twinkling toy pianos and swirling croon that really push the song near psychedelic territory. One of Confetti‘s strongest moments come in its final track, “Aytache,” which opens with some nearly world music percussion and a fuzzy-thick bass line, which lead the song to a massive vocal section that recalls Tears For Fears in it’s catchiness and power. If there is one complaint, albeit extremely minor, about Confetti, it’s that the majority of its songs tread in the mid-tempo range. A few more dynamic shifts might fit well in A Lull’s songs, but it’s hardly missed. Confetti has just the right amount of artiness and accessibility for being rhythmically-based but not a dance record. While it’s melding of genres make it difficult to classify, that opens up many doors for A Lull’s future works. And though Confetti is excellently balanced and a bright starting point, the band’s future will be most intriguing. - Loud Loop Press |
1XLP/Out Of Print