Fear of Fours
(Mercury)
By Alexandra Flood (MTV.com)
Choice Cut : This follow-up to their critically-acclaimed debut seeks to create a new audio terrain.
Lamb has a terrific fear of fours. On the follow-up to their critically- acclaimed debut album, the duo from Manchester, England has gone out of their way to avoid the four-four beat that most mainstream music adheres to. They also created many of their own samples from scratch, something else you don't see much of. Essentially, Andy Barlow and vocalist Lou Rhodes want to create a brand of music unlike anything you've ever heard; unpredictable, unfamiliar, perhaps a new audio terrain. Lamb doesn't wish to be categorized, as if they were spawned from some scene or another. Lamb wants to dwell in a class by themselves. Yet while listening to, and I might add enjoying, Fear of Fours, one can't help but make small comparisons and observations. The opening track,"Soft Mistake,"is slightly reminiscent of Massive Attack."Little Things"rings of drum and bass. And many songs like"B Line,""All In Your Hands,"and"Ear Parcel"sound like nouveau-trip-hop jazz. But despite these familiarities, Lamb's hard work pays off. Lou Rhodes' tiny voice, like a post-modern nymph's, is one more instrument in Lamb's still unconventional compositions; an ingredient that no other music maker has. The lavishness bends and winds along on Fours, making a stylistic fusion of several genres. There is even a pop song."Fly,"like nothing you're hearing on corporate radio these days, is a sensational, soaring, melodic track that you can tap your foot to -- at least for a bit, while the regular, uplifting beat lasts. Rhodes' voice is lovely on"Fly."Singing like an angel herself, she says,"Angels come and take me/A simple wish."Whether Lamb succeeds at creating something on Fear of Fours that defies pigeonholing is really beside the point. The album is still dynamic, sonically rich, and more intriguing with each listen. Barlow and Rhodes have succeeded in making a record that is, in many ways, seamless without being indistinct, beautiful without being pretty (the last track"Lullaby"displays this perfectly), and interesting without being unlistenable. It is Lamb's fear that prevents Fours from just being another LP in the racks.
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