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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A New Direction, 20 Aug 2005
With their previous album, Ceux qui..., Fly Pan Am used a stripped down post rock sound to create an album of minimalist funk/post-rock - in my opinion, one of the best in the Constellation catalogue.Le Fly Pan Am had alot to live up to with N'ecutez Pas, their third full-length release. Right from the first few bars, a drum led intro leading into a distorted riff on the guitar, you can tell Fly Pan Am have decided on a new direction, dropping the stripped down clean guitar sound of Ceux qui... in favour of a more dense, distorted guitar sound. At times the overall sound is very reminicent of My Bloody Valentine - dense guitars for texture - though the song writing is (obviously) very different. Another surprise when listening to this album is the introduction of vocals (sort of), on most of the tracks the instruments are accompanied by voices, half-singing, half-whispering, though the voices are mixed down quite a bit and the guitars usually have prominence. This is used to great effect on most tracks, at some points there is a vioce singing/whispering and another quieter voice behind it that sounds like the person is shouting the words with a mike recording a long way away from the person. The effect is fantastic. Despite all this about how Fly Pan Am have changed their sound, you can still tell that this is the same band that recorded the earlier albums. Fly Pan Am retain the minimalist/avant-garde style of composition with influences from post-rock, funk and punk. For example songs like Tres Tres "Retro" (imo, the best off the album), could have been straight off Ceux qui... (minmalist funk that'll get you dancing), just with the new, denser sound. That's what I think is so successful about this album, Fly Pan Am have managed to take a step forward, creating a new sound that has opened many more possibilities for ther band's songs, whilst retaining the things about them that have gained them so many fans. So, in conclusion, with their latest, Fly Pan Am have managed to create a great, very enjoyable album whilst taking a leap forward as well. I have not given this 5 stars because I think that the songwriting is not as consistant as on the previous album and in places the 'linking' songs of static and tape effects are a bit clumsily handled compared to thos on Ceux qui.... However, I strongly recommend this album to any fan of Fly Pan Am (or Constellation for that matter) because it has a great overall sound coupled with superb songwriting that'll have your foot tapping all the way through. Buy it!
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~ Godspeed You Black Emperor!
~ The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
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