Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Quick...Venice Is Sinking!


Venice is Sinking plays orchestral pop, that's lush, rather expansive, and absolutely adorable. Founded in Athens, GA in 2003, this five-piece outfit eschews facile categorization. Its sound is familiar but hard to pin down, rooted in cinematic arrangements, subtle genre tweaks, and clear, ringing harmonies. The band’s 2006 debut LP, Sorry About The Flowers, gained national attention for the crystalline male/female vocals of singers Daniel Lawson and Karolyn Troupe and for Troupe’s deft layering of her instrument of choice, the viola, which makes few appearances in rock history.

The new album, AZAR, finds Venice is Sinking widening its palette and deepening its focus, tackling the idea of location’s ability to influence our lives. Growing musically since the band’s debut, the group, challenged by engineer Scott Solter (Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice, Pattern is Movement), shed some of their past influences and started from scratch. As a result, AZAR is a dynamic work of beauty and ambition: the songs are meticulous, vertical creations, tackling tiny, specific moments and exploding them outward. It's a beautiful effort and when that viola chimes in it's pop heaven. Orchestrated chamber pop hasn't sounded this good in a long time.

Download: Ryan's Song

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