E Luxo So

Labradford | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 25, 1999)
• Original Release Date: July 13, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Kranky
• ASIN: B00000J6AU
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,842 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Presque rien, June 13, 2000

By 

David Kipp (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: E Luxo So (Audio CD)

The Catholic monk Thomas Merton in his book No Man Is An Island wrote of the paramount importance of silence in all things - without silence, he held, there could be no real beauty. It remains to be seen whether Mark Nelson has been studying Merton's writings, but it's not difficult to appreciate the vast stillness that lies at the centre of Labradford's fifth record, E Luxo So.

This is a record of slow, measured pieces of music that are simply constructed around uncomplicated guitar and bass lines, spare touches of keyboard and murmuring electronics. It's fitting that in the pieces are merely numbered 1 to 6 - such music ultimately needs no titles, for what purpose would they serve?

Those looking for a reference point for such music might well begin with the compositions of Arvo Pärt, who weaves simple yet eloquent pieces from largely static themes. It could also be said that E Luxo So is both the logical extension of Labradford's earlier music and the herald of Mark Nelson's later work as Pan American. I feel, however, that in the end such references are useless. Labradford, having progressed from the murky, uneasy rumble of such records as their third, self-titled, album, have moved beyond the stage where their work demands comparison.

The music barely moves and yet is strongly moving - it is a journey inward at whose "end" (the sixth piece, whose frugal guitar melody suggests unspeakable loss) I realise that to have heard this record is in fact a new beginning. If what I have written seems pretentious, it is merely because I am striving to express in words what E Luxo So merely hints at through music and it is inevitable that I should fail - silence by its very nature defies explanation. END

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An overlooked gem, May 16, 2000

By 

Joel Hanson (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: E Luxo So (Audio CD)

Perhaps the two most important components of creating memorable mood music are the use of restraint and a respect for silence. In other words, it is everything a composer leaves out of a piece and the sufficient spaces created between the remaining instruments and notes that lead to the most compelling soundtracks. Consistent with the above "rules" of composition, Labradford's ambient instrumental music has become more and more effective as it has grown increasingly sparse and minimalist, just like the blurry black and white image that graces the cover of the band's third release, E luxo so. I don't have any idea if Carter Brown and Mark Nelson are still the creative force behind the group; neither their names nor their pictures appear on Mi Media Naranja or the current release. But I don't think it matters if I know; the sparse packaging, abridged liner notes and untitled songs seem intentionally austere in order to direct the listener's attention specifically to the music while nevertheless maintaining an air of mystery regarding its production.

Each of the six songs on E luxo so feature a different instrument to evoke divergent and sometimes conflicting moods, but there is something meaningful here for every lost soul patient enough to notice the unique way that sound can alter the significance of images - either on a movie screen or in one's head. E luxo so contains hammered dulcimer, droning, delay-pedaled Morricone-esque guitar, vibraphones and key changes that pay reverent homage to Angelo Badalamenti circa Twin Peaks, simple, spacious piano chords that fall somewhere between the hopeful spirit of Mark Hollis and the bleak emptiness elicited by Gordon Sharp - particularly on the latter half of Cindytalk's In This World - and strings to complement the proceedings. The result is beautiful but ambivalent and tension filled - the ideal sonic catalyst for remembering, or forgetting, all of your mistakes.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Streamlining the Emotions, June 7, 2000

By 

Second Fig "Fig" (Co. Durham, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: E Luxo So (Audio CD)

This is Labradford's 5th album and quite possible their best yet. They've clearly progressed from the dense and murky waters of 'Prazision' and 'A Stable Reference', swapping cluttered and hazy music that was often hit and miss for crystal clear beauty. The six tracks on E Luxo So are incredible in both their simplicity and their emotion. Seemingly effortless in their composition and playing their is nothing here to detract from the feeling and mood at all, indeed silence might as well be listed as an instrument for this lp as the Richmond trio (of Carter Brown (Keyboards etc), Mark Nelson (Guitar etc) (who also records with Pan American) and Robert Donne (bass etc) use the 'sound of silence' as carefully and with as much skill and precision as any they do with each note from the piano, each shimmer of cello.

Labradford have been pruning back on their sound since the beginning, song titles such as "Accelerating on a smoother road" are now replaced with a single digit number. The hused and whispered vocals are completely absent and rarely can more than two or three instruments be heard together, but as Labradford head off towards the vanishing point they're leaving behind the music that memories are made of. Nostalgia and even emotion just aren't the same after this record. Truly breathtaking.