Customer Reviews

Chemical Friends

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great debut record. I happened to come upon it while in my local record store. I heard it as soon as I walked in and his voice and guitar caught my ear instantly. I heard about 4-5 songs while searching for what I was going to buy that day and then I realized that I definitely had to purchase the record being played.
It is a record full of great songs with a decent amount of variation. Most of the songs are lovely acoustic pieces with beautiful backing FX and it almost sounds like a more accessible Flying Saucer Attack. A few of the songs even move into electronic territory and they are also great. His voice is definitely one of the key factors of the music as he is able to take a song that may seem melodically weak at first and fill it with his rich and wonderful yet hushed voice.
Imagine a laptop Elliott Smith and you have a pretty fair idea of this guys sound. Definitely recommended.

Imagine Iron and Wine meets downbeat indie electronic and here you have the result. Divine!

This is a beautiful set of songs. n.lannon does that thing that is common to so much quality artistry: he presents something pure and simple that has obviously been worked and reworked, lovingly, and he makes it seem effortless. But you know that the effort behind such elegant and sophisticated simplicity is considerable. This is a real achievement. And I swear, it changes my brain chemistry for the better.

This is an incredible album that just gets better and better every time I listen to it! It ranges from heartbreaking to groovy to sort of spacey and atmospheric, moving through songs in a way that flows but also brings surprising twists and turns. He's a great songwriter with a voice that is intimate and humble. Its a must-have for fans of Elliott Smith and Nick Drake, but it also has a more modern electronic flare and would appeal to fans of electronic pop, like Postal Service.

...just how good this album is, and it's nothing complicated. Lannon simply and adroitly layers beautiful, spry, finger-picked acoustic guitar melodies, atmospheric electronics and quiet vocals until all three blend into a beautiful miasma of sound, in particular "Turn Time Around," "Hollow Heart," "Fortune Cookie," "The Nature of Things," and sacharrine highlight "I Freak You Out."

I was jaded and wasn't sure when a piece of music what going to strike me as something I really WANTED to hear again but N. Lannon's Chemical Friends did it. I really don't know anything about him, and I don't even know what his lyrics are saying, but the sound draws me in and keeps me spinning the record over and over at work. "Fortune Cookie" is the song that grabbed me first, guitar-based but with modern production/electronic highlights that make it more than your typical folksy guy w/ guitar.

This album is gorgeous. The songs are acoustic with some electronic beats and are really well done. Imagine Elliot Smith, Owen, A mellower acoustic Postal Service. Nyles is going to be huge, although he doesn't act it. Sadly I can see some of his songs getting onto teeny-bopper tv shows like the O.C. It's great stuff that does not disappoint.

I first ran across this album by way of a soundtrack to a movie, the name of which I can't recall. I was struck by the folk/ambient sound, and hoped for more of the same on this album. While the memorable quality of the music turned out, in my opinion, to be a little uneven, I still am hoping to hear more from Nyles Lannon in the future. So, if the song samples sound appealing, I'd recommend this CD - the complete tunes are a mixed bag of the same flavor, and are fairly entertaining. Got to love the cover art, too.