Customer Reviews

Two Loons for Tea

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been utterly obsessing over this album--it is a wonderful combination of jazz, pop, trip hop, electronica, atmospheric guitar, and great raspy/rich vocals, a mix of smoothness with liveliness. It has a flowing, yet energetic sound. And of course the great guitar and vocals. Heavenly.

I've been following Two Loons on mp3.com for awhile. It's nice to see a band from mp3 take off. The cd is exactly as the band said. Much warmer on disk. They have a very lush sound that is reminicent of bands from 4AD. Good use of textures and layered sounds make this a great cd to listen to on a breezy late night driving by a lake as the moon reflects off its surface. It's hard not to put tranquil pictures to their music. Best CD of it's music type I've heard this year.

Two Loons For Tea are one of those subtle bands, whose self-titled album became an underground hit based purely on talent. It's an intoxicating mix of trip-hop, catchy pop, jazz and smooth guitar. The main flaw is that it's way too short -- only nine songs, but what exceptional pop songs they are.

It opens with the gorgeous "Brickwall," an expansive trip-hop song with some sharp percussion and incomparable layering. But the faster pace melts away into a sweet, slightly murky pop song, which is made even more lovely by Sarah Scott murmurs, "They always interfere with love/she's out on the town/still wants a boy, a boy..."

For the rest of their debut, Two Loons For Tea stretch their wings with atmospheric pop songs tinged with jazzy brass, ending with a pair of darker melodies. "Strangers" is a shimmering, dense song, while the finale "Parachute" is halting, melodic, soft and a little nervous-sounding. It's an exquisite end to an otherwise confident ending.

"Two Loons For Tea" had pretty much no hype when it was first released, but it slipped into music-lovers' collections anyway. Their sound is a sort of collision between Portishead and Emiliana Torrini, with a dash of Mazzy Star thrown in -- and while jazz, trip-hop and pop don't usually mesh so well, here they blend perfectly.

The band itself is the brainchild of Scott and Jonathan Kochmer, and their work is perfectly in sync. Scott provides strong vocals that can be throaty, sweet or fragile. Instrumentally, Kochmer steals the show by playing three guitars -- electric, synth, and some exquisite acoustic playing in "Neon Nothing," where it's just Scott's voice and some guitar. It sounds like they're playing in a coffeehouse.

Backing them are a number of other musicians, who contribute percussion, hammond and piano, even more guitar, and something called "effects" -- I think it means little chimes and additional electronic blips. Jessica Lurie and Skerik also contribute saxophones to three songs, adding a jazzy flavor to straightforward trip-hop tunes.

Two Loons for Tea made only a little splash with their self-titled debut, but it's an album that overflows with beauty and musical depth. A must-have.

This is an amazing cd. While Brick Wall starts the album off on a faster note, what follows is much more laid back and also extremely sultry. Sarah Scott's voice is warm and reminds me of Esthero. My favorites are Brick Wall, Neon Nothing (An amazing song, extremely beautiful), and Ice Cube Crocodile. Overall, this is an awesome cd that is both moody and laid back.

Two Loons for Tea's self-titled album is a splendid mix of genres. An avid electronic music fan myself, I like anything that takes normally incompatible sounds or beats and makes them work, but it's not just about blending sounds; rock fans will like the punchy accents and crescendos, jazz fans will adore the shifting blend of instruments that come in and out of the fore and background and everyone will love the intelligent lyrics delivered by an innovative and versatile vocalist. The tracks have a similar feel to each other, but it never gets boring because each song is a different angle on something that's great to begin with. The true brilliance is finding rhythm and melody in a constantly shifting soundscape. You may hear a catchy hook at the beginning of a song, but you never hear it exactly the same way again. It evolves as you listen, grows as you watch like a time-lapse video. This album is genius and really shows what a team of musicians who are unafraid to experiment with what's technically capable, yet soundly based on what is pleasing to the ear and resonates with human emotion are capable of. I haven't stopped hearing Two Loons for Tea in my head since I first heard it a week ago and it redefines my musical tastes in a profound way.

Incredibly diverse songs that form an intriguingly consistent whole. The music and Sarah Scott's voice register as opulent and stark and difficult and easy all at the same time. This is a tremendously appealing album. The first time I listened to the song "Neon Nothing" I was transfixed. It's the same way I felt when I listened to some of the songs on Nirvana Unplugged. Trip-Hop and Nirvana aren't supposed to have much in common, but with "Two Loons" all comparisons seem to be fair game.

The music, the lyrics... they are interesting, the music is fresh, its imaginative. I just wonder how different could life be if only instead of the worthless bubblegum pop we would get airplay of groups like this. I strongly recomend this album, brickwall, boy and specially strangers, listen to this last one and you'll undesrtand what I am talking about. You won't regret it; it is not pop, or alternative or adult contemp it is a fusion of that and more. Great album.

this album is addictive - wonderfully layered gorgeous music.. and what a line up of muscians everyone from mike dillon, skerik to brad houser ... AMAZING.. sarah's vocals are dreamy.