Machine Translations
Seven Seven
10 Track, LP (2007, Spunk!)
Related: Machine Translations.
The two best songs on Seven Seven come at the end. ‘Oh Ma The Sea Is Rising’ is a folkish ballad made buoyant by a delicate string section. The distant notes of an opera singer and a touch of piano add further colour; this is a simple song made rich by an intelligent arrangement. ‘The Long Goodbye’ is more ambitious; constructed out of slow vocal loops and misty layers of guitar and bells, it sounds like a long walk to the end of a jetty on a winter’s morning.
If only the rest of Seven Seven were this textured. As it is, it’s a passable indie-pop album, with a country tinge provided by J. Walker’s slightly nasal twang, and a hint of rock’s pulse in the more upbeat numbers. Aside from the closers, ‘Laboratory’ is the album’s strong point, an embittered love song: “If there’s three things I could change about you now/It’d be your thoughts, words and deeds.” It’s delivered with enough restraint to make you feel like everything will turn out okay, in the end, which suits, because reassurance is this album’s key. You’ve heard music like this many times before, which doesn’t make Seven Seven bad, just hard to get excited about.
by Emmy Hennings
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