Seal Beach

Today's Mercifully Goldfinger-free Music of the Day is the Album Leaf's Seal Beach EP with bonus tracks. This is actually a re-release of the original EP, with five additional live bonus tracks.

This album doesn't stray too far from the Album Leaf sound - dreamy and ethereal but not quite to the point of whimsy - and is fairly easy to listen to. It is an open soundscape, sometimes led by strings or a guitar, sometimes a piano, but the key element is space. There aren't many moments of silence, but the instrumentation is so reserved that there's very little if any overlap between the different aural elements.

In spite of the complete lack of vocals, and only minimal percussion, the album sets its mood fairly well. The word 'ambient' probably applies here - the number of instruments and relative stability of emotion are established early on and not really deviated from. This is perhaps the album's greatest strength and weakness: it holds steady throughout the tracks, but offers little in the way of climaxes or surprises. In this regard, Seal Beach isn't exactly remarkable, but it's hardly an abject failure, either. However, a lack of failure does not always constitute a success.

File this one under "good, not great" and maybe go pick up Into the Blue Again.

In Other News:
Maybe ambient music just isn't ever going to be my friend. Also, my apologies if you were hoping for a 500+ word post today.

I got a ticket for the Rural Alberta Advantage show on the 15th today! $8, and I would have paid twice that. Expect an excited review, sometime.