Fawning : "All Around Me"

This dream pop duo unfolds very 90s worshipping sounds. There is more dream than pop going into this album, as the hooks are not really grabbing me, they are almost intangible. The poppiest thing about them is the child-like quality of their singer's voice. This album is well produced as the sounds all sit where they need to, and are layered. They appreciate the deliberate playing of the single-note guitar solos that cut through the background. This is what provides a more Cure-like quality. 

The title track is more of a breezy strummed ballad than expected from this band. "Speak" that follows this one works better, almost having an early Cranberries feel, which is like Cocteau Twins run through a more mainstream 90s pop filter. The "lead" guitar kicking in for the last minute is pretty effective. "Laid Away" is more like an ambient interlude than a song that goes somewhere. The delay on the drums leading into "In Memory" works well as it's the first song that feels dark enough to fall into the goth label. The guitar is often mixed into the distance. I guess it works for what they are doing here.

"Feelings" finds the haze of the ambiance even thicker. It floats within the obscured clouds of its own making, burying the vocals in the mix, so they are reduced to a muffled coo. The ethereal strum of guitar guiding "Time Enough at Last" offers little guidance for which the vocals might glide within. The last song brings the kind of black light sunshine you expect from this sort of thing, but works well enough in the context of what they do. I will give this album an 8.5, which is better than most pop and indie rock coming out given its nature,. but when you start inching over in the zip code of the Cocteau Twins that raises the bar, since if you are in the mood to listen to Cocteau Twins you listen to them. Thus it is hard to predict how much air time this will get from me, but if you like 90s sounding future pop then this is worth your time. 

pst224