If Thousands
Lullaby
Silber
If Thousands’ second release comes with a note requesting the listener to “please listen to this recording at as low a volume as possible to induce & aid in slumber” – a notable exception to rock’s overused “play it loud, motha!” stickers. Plus, it serves as a nice introduction to the actual music on here.
If Thousands are friends with Low, and it shows in their music too. This is a whispered, barely moving work of revered silence and gliding introspection, with the “songs” – if they can be seen as such at all – moving beyond conventional concepts of how to build an album. Lullaby focuses on consistency, on restraining, and on gradual displacements, and as the different tracks segue into each other, only marginally altering what has come before, one senses the coherent musical vision running throughout.
One may term it a meditative work, but without the often tedious implications of that term. There’s a sense of loss, not uncritical comfort, on here, with the album slowly and carefully moving towards more defined, pointed soundscapes as the music unfolds. It’s impressively built-up, immaculately conceived, and much more intriguing than its unassuming whispered tones pretend to be.
Yes, Lullaby is every bit as slumber-inducing as the liner notes informs us it is. But yes, it’s also a very good album. Ambient drones with a sense of direction and purpose. Imagine that.
Silber Records: http://www.silbermedia.com/
