Simone Appolloni's Album Reviews
One of the most charming Post-Psychedelic British bands to come out in the 80s were named Felt, founded by the cryptically named Lawrence Hayward, whose lyrics were more indecipherable than the typical Proto-Shoegaze project around the time ("A messenger reads / From the books of old / And how they come they never stop / That's what we said / Inscriptions proclaim / That they were wrote for us"). Lawrence constantly sings with a constant, breezing croon that sounds like Morrisey when is stoned, and the music beneath him consists of jangling chords with the occasional Classical citation (due to Maurice Deebank's musical education).
Felt's debut Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty is literally naked: the bass is played by three members in different tracks, the drums often consist of spartan, tribal pedals ("I Worship the Sun") or may even be absent ("Evergreen Dazed"): only "Fortune" presents a "regular" rhythmic pattern. Felt's main characteristic was their unpredictability, and first time listeners never really understood the whole album at first listen.
This is literally Post-music in the purest sense of the world, music that is done by people who don't actually know how to write songs and rides the fine border line between Straight and Free approaches, becoming literally something of its own. A close comparisons could be The Smiths, but one of the reasons this comparison is never totally right is because, when they were still a good band, Felt had their own fixations (one of these is the frequent inclusions of instrumentals in their albums). Also, their albums tended to be shorter than the others' (this contains only 6 songs, bringing up 30 minutes of music).
There are better Felt albums posterior to Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty, but this can still be considered a fine introduction to this schizophrenic, often uncategorizable career of this obscure band. Well-spent time.
Highlights:"Evergreen Daze", "Fortune", "Cathedral".
Felt's debut Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty is literally naked: the bass is played by three members in different tracks, the drums often consist of spartan, tribal pedals ("I Worship the Sun") or may even be absent ("Evergreen Dazed"): only "Fortune" presents a "regular" rhythmic pattern. Felt's main characteristic was their unpredictability, and first time listeners never really understood the whole album at first listen.
This is literally Post-music in the purest sense of the world, music that is done by people who don't actually know how to write songs and rides the fine border line between Straight and Free approaches, becoming literally something of its own. A close comparisons could be The Smiths, but one of the reasons this comparison is never totally right is because, when they were still a good band, Felt had their own fixations (one of these is the frequent inclusions of instrumentals in their albums). Also, their albums tended to be shorter than the others' (this contains only 6 songs, bringing up 30 minutes of music).
There are better Felt albums posterior to Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty, but this can still be considered a fine introduction to this schizophrenic, often uncategorizable career of this obscure band. Well-spent time.
Highlights:"Evergreen Daze", "Fortune", "Cathedral".
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