by Daryl Sweet
Slaraffenland are a Danish 5-piece who mix post-rock with jazz, folk and pop elements into a sound that comes across as both intuitive, and yet meticulously planned. Their third LP was released in the summer of 2009 but is still building momentum and only now starting to garner more mainstream attention. Slaraffenland are attempting to plot their own course in music, and according to their website are currently building their own studio where they will “do all their future recordings and experiments”.
For a band often described as experimental, ‘We’re On Your Side’ is surprisingly accessible, and it’s always quite impressive when a band manages to construct music with experimental leanings within a concise, almost pop format – rather than each song being disjointed, unfocused and overly drawn-out. An especially enjoyable facet of Slaraffenlands sound is the jazz element provided by the bands wind section, making the music sound grand and dramatic, and anyone who enjoys Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck or Morphine may find moments to enjoy on We’re On Your Side (although the jazz elements are more restrained here than would you get from any of those 3 artists).
Often the vocals on offer on ‘We’re On Your Side’ are a glaring weakness, however – they aren’t particularly strong or distinctive and many of the songs seem as though they would work fine without them. For a band who started out as instrumental, they never sound as though feel fully comfortable with their vocal input and this is perhaps why much of the albums singing is double-tracked. The harmonies are certainly functional, but they won’t necessarily grab you by the balls. Lyrically ‘We’re on your side’ is often downbeat but the album never feels that way thanks to the satisfying sound-scape they’ve created. It’s hard to immediately discern a strong lyrical theme, and many of the songs focus around mantra-like statements such as “open your eyes, open your eyes”, and “we have lost our place” instead of an actual narrative.
There’s something peaceful or meditative about the album, with a constantly mid-tempo rhythm (with the exception of ‘Falling Out’, were the prominence of beat makes way for heavy dissonance), and most tracks tend to veer towards discord and belligerence before veering away gracefully. Opener ‘Long Gone’, ‘Too Late to think’, and the rousing ‘Hunting’ are three songs worth checking out to assess whether this album is for you – ‘Long Gone’ offers tight and precise drumming that holds together a loose mixture of horns and harmonies, while ‘Too late to Think’ is one of the catchiest tracks on the album and ‘Hunting’ is probably the most accomplished piece of music here.
If you let them hit you in the right mood this band have the ability to slow your thoughts down, and transport you from the mundane with rising and crashing horn sections. Taken in one whole listen the album might not immediately connect with you; long parts of it feel coy and meandering, but it is worth unraveling the content over a few listens before their style starts to take hold. ‘We’re On Your Side’ is an endearing but imperfect experience, with many of the songs not always making a strong enough impression on the listener. The is doubtless talent in terms of musicianship though, and if the band keep working on their “experiments” with more focus in their private studio, we can only expect great things to come in the future.
[rating:6/10]
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