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As part of the continuing project for Landing to release eight million records in the space of five years (and believe me, this is a Fair and Noble Goal), two new EPs turned up over the course of summer and early fall. Admittedly we're talking EPs in name alone, actually, considering both releases are just a hair under forty minutes, but that's part of the fun, frankly.
The tour EP itself is not quite Landing unplugged but it's close enough—acoustic guitars and plenty of singing predominates, in comparison to their many electric zone-outs over the past. The hints of Low's influence on the band crops up at a point or two, but this is more of an individual take, happily - there's the richness of sound one can hear on earlier albums in a new context. Listen for how Adrienne Snow's keyboards add a beautiful tinge to "I Missed It," "When the Sun Lights the Sky" or "Fluttering Wings"—the overall chug of the latter, meanwhile, proves that understated indie rock in the vein of Galaxie 500 hasn't gone away, it's just found a new home. Then there's "I'd Feel the Same," which is probably Aaron Snow's best lead vocal yet, a half-whisper with empathy set against some sparkling acoustic guitar. "Meisha," with its collage of intertwined guitar lines and strategic use of reverb sliding into a full, sweet glaze of trebly drones and chimes before returning to a lovely acoustic/electric blend, is perhaps the most "typically" Landing number of the bunch, but the EP best demonstrates how fluid the band's overall approach is. This is the type of collection that will always put a winsome smile on my face.
Fade In/Fade Out, meanwhile, will do the same while also taking me to the faraway lands of Digital Pedaldom, which is where I have a bias to dwell anyway (do you really want to know how many Cocteau Twins CDs I have?). There's epic e-bow moans on the appropriately titled "Forest Ocean Sound," the slow descent and drift of "Against the Rain," settling into a concluding chime that fades into the awesome dronescapes of "Constellations." And when the acoustic guitar starts up on that one, the result is jawdroppingly, achingly gorgeous, as well it should be, concluding on a stripped-down, simple but effective delivery of that same part. "Whirlwind" is only marginally less involving and enveloping if that, as strong a tribute to the lingering influence of Slowdive as anything else recently recorded (even with the tribute album!), while "Pulse" takes over twelve minutes to slowly bring everything to a wonderful conclusion.
About the only thing missing is something that lets me call up the band for private performances at will. But I shouldn't be so selfish.
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