Customer Reviews

Lesser Matters

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With no previous knowledge of Sweden's The Radio Dept, I bought their album Lesser Matters after sampling the first 3 songs at a listening station. It has been one of my best music purchases in recent memory. I would define their music as dream pop. It has that ethereal sound. The vocals are distant, gentle and hushed at times.

An unusual aspect of The Radio Dept's music is the use of white noise/feedback in their songs. At first, some may find this somewhat off-putting or that it interferes with soft melodies of their songs. I did. After a few listens, however, I became accustomed to its presence and began to like it. It is effective and generally works well. It also gives their music a distinctive note.

The lyrics of Lesser Matters deal largely with loss, the end of relationships, and emotional distress. The song "It's Been Eight Years" with its lyrics "I never knew that good experiences could cause a pain like this. I want something I can't have," epitomize the tone of many of the songs. Despite the subject matter of some of the songs, the music isn't depressing. Not all of the songs have lyrics of doom and gloom either. In the song "1995", the singer looks back fondly on a that happy year while proclaiming "though I'm happier now."

Lesser Matters is a small, understated, emotive album. Those who are fans of the dream pop genre will have a great new addition to their collection and newcomers will get a great introduction.

Fantastic debut album from this Swedish outfit. Their sound owes a lot to Jesus & Mary Chain and dancey dream-pop, but they pull off a vibe that's entirely their own. The songs are varied enough, the melodies ultra-sweet without being sickeningly twee, the production not too dense or impenetrable. It floats, but doesn't disappear. 13 tracks, no bad songs.

This is easily one of the best albums of last year! Beautifully crafted pop melodies swirling in lush distortion and feedback. Similar to Boo radleys, Jesus and Mary Chain (think: Just Like Honey), and other shoegazing bands, with a slight electronic edge thrown in. The singer has an excellent voice, and on some songs there is a woman singing harmonies. . . . I promise, these songs will get stuck in your head for days-- I bought it import and it's worth every penny!

I've had this album for about six weeks now, and strangely enough I always manage to listen to this album some time during the day. Some of the most amazing Indie pop that has ever come out of Sweden, these guys have a great mix of synth and filtered voices together with guitars and drums that create one of the most unique and satisfying sounds I have ever heard. The Radio Dept. is definately a rare find in Sweden's music industry, where it seems like every other band coming out of that country make indie pop that want to sound like Death Cab For Cutie.

The only band that would rival these guys right now would be Sambassadeur.

simply lovely pop in the vein of new order or creation/4ad bands.

every single song is totally beautiful--incredible "feel" here.

if you like yo la tengo, the black watch, robyn hitchcock or similar, get this!

it will NOT disappoint!

At first listen, this record treads perilously close to not making much of an impression at all. But it is only upon repeated listenings does this hidden gem of a record reveal its true self. Breathy, airy vocals blended with a mixture of accoustic and electronic instrumentation and a tendancy for minor key tunings create a hazy, gauzy, melancholy pop record that enables the inevitable dream-pop/My Bloody Valentine comparisons. The best way for me to describe the otherworldly impression this music creates for me is to say that the Radio Department has found a way to capture with their style of music that twilight feeling of partial consciousness you experience just prior to falling asleep, floating on a cloud of partial sensory deprivation. This record has become and indispensible part of my collection. Check it out if you can locate a copy!

I'm not sure where all the shoegaze comparisons are coming from, perhaps the closest would be the poppier side of the Boo Radleys, but 'Lesser Matters' is actually more along the lines of Broken Social Scene, trippy experimental rock. One one hand there's an ethereal/breezy quality typical of shoegaze bands, eg, Slowdive. But on the otherhand, there's an interesting combination of Pet Sounds-like experimentalism and psychadelic-laced electronica, eg, Prefuse 73, Manitoba. If anything, 'Lesser Matters' meets Badly Drawn Boy with electronica, still breezy, still unique, with a sonic soundscape vibe that the Swedes are good at.

Lesser Matters is one of the best rock albums of this first decade of yhe XXI century.

Lesser Matters is a phenomenal first effort by the Radio Dept. More raw and driving than their later works, this LP is a luscious entry in the Shoegaze genre. Personal favorite tracks include: Against the Tide, Where Damage Isn't Already Done and finally Keen on Boys, which Sofia Coppola used in her movie, Marie Antoinette.

Overall, a unique and exquisite experience from start to finish. If you are a fan of noisepop, you will not be disappointed.

Lesser Matters being Radio Dept debut album and 2003 debut and is a mix of dream pop, indie pop and shoegaze. Allmusic gave the album 4/5 and NME 9/10. All the lyrics are included in the booklet along with a list of whom plays what. 4/5.