Customer Reviews

Does It Look Like I'm Here

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End of year lists can be a mixture of the generally laughable (Rolling Stone). They can be outrageous with last years Q top 50 seeing albums by Mika beating the brilliant Low Anthem and Richard Hawley while Cheryl Cole topped Bob Dylan's excellent "Together through life" (although to be fair Qs 2010 list is excellent). Then there are lists which are frankly intriguing not least of these is from the excellent "Drowned in Sound" which just about mops up the best music around and tips a nod to some exciting new artists who deserve wider recognition. It is however a bit of a surprise to find "Does It Look Like I'm Here"? by Emeralds at the top of the DIS list not least since this a instrumental album by a US band out of Cleveland, Ohio whose major characteristic thus far in terms of those horrible labels we use, would be to see the words "experimental" and "drone" figure prominently against their music.

In candour I have no idea of the bands previous pedigree all I know is that "Does It Look Like I'm Here" is a thing of shimmering beauty, ecstatic high points and grandiose ambition. Some reviewers have compared the album to Pink Floyd's "Wish you were here" which is understandable although not strictly accurate, you could equally conjure up the names of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Secret Machines, Four Tet, 65daysofstatic and even Balearic ambiance. The long and short of it is that describing this music is like trying to balance on mercury, it shifts shape and dances around with huge collages of synths and for good measure manages in its ranks of 12 songs to include a song that sounds like a folk waltz which could have appeared on Tubular Bells; check out the stunning "Now you see me".

Opener "Candy Shoppe" sets the tone for the album its starts of with a gentle harp like sound, building to a huge looping synth cacophony which by 2.30 breaks into a wall of sound which Kraftwerk would be proud of and a melody that is genuinely uplifting and the perfect soundtrack to watch the snow falling outside the window. Unsurprisingly "Double Helix" has been subject to various mixes across the internet and it is a sharp three minutes plus of recurring hot ambience which has the words "film soundtrack" plastered over it. The centre piece of the album is the huge 12 minute plus "Genetic". It has those huge sound proportions and dimensions that 65daysofstatic were able to capture in the more dance orientated "Tiger girl" but is equally enthralling building from one huge climax to another. My personal favourite however is "Shade" which does sound like an huge cathedral organ has been superimposed over tape loop, think "Intervention" by Arcade Fire but only bigger. Finally "Access Granted" returns us to the earlier reflection of "Now you see me" with an acoustic guitar playing out over a slow synth full of haunting melody and depth.

Unlike Drowned in Sound I couldn't quite deem this to be the album of 2010 in what has been a very good year for great records. But let us not downplay the wonders on display in "Does It Look Like I'm Here"? since this is mighty piece of recorded art. While Mr Spencer Grady the BBC reviewer of this album might get a spot in pseuds corner for his description of it as "swathed in sheer luminescent pools of joyous, amorphous analogue and crowned by diaphanous shards of brightly lit neon nimbus" one would hope that this is slightly tongue in cheek and after listening to this album again he's probably right. This band have recorded a polished jewel here and while with diamonds, you are primarily concerned with clarity, with Emeralds you are primarily concerned with colour. The many shades of music throughout confirm this with sounds that are both cinematic and challenging in equal measure. Try it for size.

Emeralds make the sort of dream music that makes long car trips much more enjoyable. Ethereal and steady, sort of along the same lines of the hypnosis that occurs watching miles of yellow lines pass under your wheels. Or watching the stars after drinking a bottle of good strong red wine. It is a daydream waiting to happen.

Does It Look Like I'm Here is great background music for deep discussions or for laying in the dark in your room and detoxing and unwinding from your day.

I'll admit that I have not always liked electronic music. There have been times while listening to other cd's that I felt bored with the lack of vocal and lyrical input. But not here. This music is so moving that your brain can't help but provide its own stories.

Definitely one of my favorite albums of the year. Go and buy it, it's really beautiful stuff.