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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 |
| Chicago based A Lull is one of the relatively newer acts to join the growing number of bands that merge folk with freeform electronica and experimentation. They have been around since 2008, and released their debut album Confetti this past April. Like the others out there, A Lull often emphasizes repetition and builds layers of sound with it to create mesmerizing climaxes but manage to do it in such a way that still maintains a good deal of accessibility. Despite the fact that many of the songs on this album have been created using similar set ups and instrumentation, each one establishes its own identity and as a result Confetti has a lot to offer. One thing that has been mentioned about this band across the Internet is their use of percussion. Various percussion instruments are present in every song underneath the layer of electronic and vocal melodies, and at times the members even create percussive elements with everyday objects such as garbage bags and glass bottles. This creates a fairly dense sound, where the organic blends with the digitally constructed landscapes but despite the sheer amount of things going on in each song Confetti isn’t an inaccessible mess. Every element serves a purpose, and each track establishes a different melody that becomes the focal point and twists itself into something new by its conclusion. Admittedly there are a few songs where the droning melodic build up feels as though it gets dragged out for a little bit too long and this does keep them from achieving their full impact on the listener. Certainly a little bit of trimming here and there wouldn’t have hurt things, but one can’t argue with the results showcased on songs such as “Mammals” that feel fully realized and aware of how to reach their true potential. The vocals on Confetti are very light and often feel quite dreamy as they soar over top of the instrumental arrangements. A Lull seems to have made the decision to make the singing one of the most prominent elements and as a result they had the album mixed in such a way that the vocals are almost always the first thing that grabs the listener. Although this can sometimes be a bit of a risky move, it works perfectly in their case as the singing is so strong and often utilizes layers in the same way as the instrumentals. At times the vocal and instrumental layers are intertwined so that the dreamy singing is just another element in the ever twisting soundscape, and the way that the band masterfully pulls off these moments is what gives them staying power. I did feel that there were a few moments where A Lull could have trimmed some of the excess droning, but that didn’t keep me from coming back to Confetti. This is an interesting release that has some commonality with some of the other groups that are a part of the electronic/folk combination but it has its own nuances. I’m interested to see what direction the band chooses to take their sound in next, as it is evident from this debut that there are a lot of different things they can already do. - Cosmos Gaming |
1XLP/Out Of Print