- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Review
As statements of romantic intent go, Death To Everyone But Us must represent either the most straightforward, honest distillation of the love song, or the creepiest. It's probably fair to say that both elements exist happily within Felix's track of the same name, the opener on their beguilingly pretty, yet often profoundly strange debut album You Are the One I Pick. Indeed, it's this odd ability to blend a sense of dreamy romance with genuine, bona-fide weirdness that presumably recommended Lucinda Chua and Chris Summerlin to Chicago label Kranky, the Nottingham couple representing their first-ever UK signing.
You Are the One I Pick is a hazy 34 minutes of minimal but nonstop music, an almost slowcore-like trickle of distant pianos, sparse, slow thickets of bendy strings and the occasional sonorous garnish of Chua's cello. Her singing is plangent and somewhat girlish, not unlike PJ Harvey's on 2007's White Chalk. Indeed, Harvey's record is a pretty good comparison piece, at least sonically: were there any chance that Dorset's queen of darkness would, in one of her quieter moments, write a song named I Wish I Was a Pony, it would quite possibly sound identical to Felix's wistful track of the same.
But then, while Harvey busies herself at the heart of darkness, Chua's interests are more varied. These songs flow together seamlessly, in soft, almost hook-free eddies that suddenly coagulate in mantric chants that lodge themselves in the brain: "I'm going to marry the Marlboro Man," Chua chants, darkly, on Ode to the Marlboro Man; Back in Style's lyric is almost entirely comprised of the line "That gum you like's gonna come back in style," a line from David Lynch's Twin Peaks – baffling even if you get the reference.
Indeed, like Lynch, Felix's strength lies not with conventional accomplishment – Lynch doesn't do plots, they don't do choruses – but in creating a simultaneously funny/pretty/dark/wry/innocent emotional ambience and spiking it with the odd stunning set piece – Lynch does dancing midgets, Felix go in for those swells of unsettling chanting. It's a gateway into another headspace, one aglow with uncertain magic. --Andrzej Lukowski
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and original new music,
By Mike Mantin (Swansea, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: You Are the One I Pick (Audio CD)
Notts duo Felix have done a fine job of avoiding being pigeonholed. This breathtaking debut album has plenty of traceable influences - most noticeably neo-classical bands like Rachel's and Stars of the Lid, with whom Felix's Lucinda Chua first toured - but it operates in a space entirely its own.Every single one of the eleven songs 'You Are The One I Pick' is delicate and minimalist - there's beautifiul textured guitars and lush strings throughout, but they're so hushed the songs can just drift off into the air if your mind wanders off. No, this is an album which demands your full attention, and will reward you plentifully. 'What I Learned From TV', for example, is such a gorgeous and warm piece of music, it takes a couple of listens to realise the lyrics are referencing the obscure early-morning Channel 4 program. Trans World Sport. It's Chua's vocals that fully tie the knot between ethereal loveliness and reality, which is what makes Felix so special. Her voice is soft but with a tinge of a Londoner accent, and there's lyrics about the joy of sneaking into abandoned houses as well as about dragons and ponies. For such a reserved and minimalist album, there's a huge amount of things to love here. One stands out from the rest though: the fact that no one else right now is making music quite like Felix.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gateway into another headspace, one aglow with uncertain magic.,
By
This review is from: You Are The One I Pick (MP3 Download)
"You Are the One I Pick is a hazy 34 minutes of minimal but nonstop music, an almost slowcore-like trickle of distant pianos, sparse, slow thickets of bendy strings and the occasional sonorous garnish of Chua's cello. Her singing is plangent and somewhat girlish, not unlike PJ Harvey's on 2007's White Chalk. Indeed, Harvey's record is a pretty good comparison piece, at least sonically: were there any chance that Dorset's queen of darkness would, in one of her quieter moments, write a song named I Wish I Was a Pony, it would quite possibly sound identical to Felix's wistful track of the same."I cannot recommend Felix's debut album highly enough. Unquestionably the most calming, superlative example of musical escapism from the last few years.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
