P.Viktor

Ohbijou - Beacons

(3.5/5) Beacons is the long-awaited follow-up to Canadian collective Ohbijou’s 2006 debut, Swift Feet For Troubling Times. Clearly they were in no rush to release a second album, and it appears they have used the intervening three years to write and craft superior, multi-layered songs for their latest opus. The lengthy gestation process shows in the quality of their music in ways both good and bad; at times it can appear a little too laboured, at others suddenly fresh and breathtaking. Nonetheless, Beacons is one of those rare albums that needs to be enjoyed in its entirety (no iPod shuffle), and preferably on earphones as it’s rather delicate sensibility slowly effervesces throughout the album into sublime geishas of sound that nestle back down into tranquility.

Being described as an “orchestral folk indie-pop band” creates a niche for Ohbijou, with its seven members playing instruments as diverse as the banjo, glockenspiel, harpsichord, ukulele, mandolin, violin and melodica. And it is this melange of instruments that gives them their sad, wistful, ethereal sound, which wraps itself around frontwoman Casey Mecija’s fragile vocals (think a cross between Joanna Newsom, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, and Sinéad O’Connor). The lush sonic palette they create could be compared with the likes of Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, but Ohbijou sound like a band who have painstakingly eked out their own musical architecture. Lyrically, the album is preoccupied with the ‘Big City’ (be it Toronto, London or New York) and the attendant difficulties of living within the urban sprawl, set against the liberation experienced in nature.

Alondra Bentley - Ashfield Avenue

(3.5/5) Spanish singer-songwriter Alondra Bentley’s debut album is largely indebted to Feist, whose staple use of banjos, handclaps, acoustic guitars and shimmering vocals on The Reminder are very much in evidence here. But where Feist’s French–Canadian infusion furnishes her with a distinct sound, Bentley’s Spanish–Catalan styling helps distinguish her from her contemporary. This patchwork quilt of miniature folk songs are all cut from the same cloth – arpeggio guitars, Alberti bass, and piano – but the crafted melodies make each song unique. Although the rest of the album never quite matches the glorious and confident opening track, ‘Giants Are Windmills’, there is still enough here to tempt the listener.

‘I Feel Alive’ is this album’s ‘1234’, complete with banjo, birdsong, and crooning backing vocals, while ‘Meltdown’ sounds as though it could have come straight from Emilíana Torrini’s last album. The melancholy of ‘The Petal House’ comes as surprise after the brightness of the opening tracks, allowing Bentley to show off her lyric prowess; “What went wrong? I left the womb”. ‘Some Things Of My Own’ proves Bentley can craft a memorable melody, while the ghostly ‘Star For Mummy’ is equal parts pretty and unsettling. While mainstream success such as Feist’s may prove elusive, this is still a very self-assured debut album with much to recommend it.

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Review written for and originally posted on Wears the Trousers.