Con Dolore - Sailor's Warning
(Clairecords)
Polar's sidestep into a calmer incarnation as Con Dolore worked pretty dang well for the band's debut album This Sad Movie—at least for post-shoegaze obsessives like, uh, me. (Now what did I do with that Study of the Lifeless record?) Sailor's Warning is album number two, and this time core duo Ed Ballinger and Kristy Moss have only one other bandmate, Wes Snowden, on board, but regardless of lineup changes, textured and flowing and beautiful and evocative songs ahoy!
Snowden's loping bass indicates some fairly strong Cocteaus and Cure obsessions at play, but Con Dolore's particular take is more a mélange of various approaches. Moss generally speaking isn't a singer aiming at drowning her words or having them drowned for her, and if she's not as precise as Love Spirals Downwards' first singer Suzanne Perry, say, on the flip she's almost a less affected Bjork. There's the same keening edge to her singing at points but (for better or worse, depending on how you feel) less of the improvised ululations that mark the Icelandic singer's approach. Ballinger's singing is a sometimes rasp/whine that works better than might be thought, as on "Faces in Drapes" or "A Giant Wave." Sometimes the two blend perfectly—case in point, the late sixties Beach Boys strum and harmonize-along "Intermission." More invitations to come have a drink should be so relaxed.
Meanwhile, all three members are credited with sampling of one sort or another, and though the end effect is more that particular take on techno beats that isn't the cutting edge in the field itself, it's still distractingly beautiful when used right. On "A Snowy 3 Miles" the sudden cuts and stabs of louder and echoed beats amidst the blurry rise and fall of Ballinger's guitars and particularly his synth playing is particularly fine. At the albums' best, all the various influences combine to produce a steady whole—the pleasing pop chug of "Are You Still There?," for example, or "Quietly and Still," which in spite of the name is actually a gently active little thing. Closing song "Mutiny" pulls out the building epic 'gaze stops in classic Slowdive style—it might not quite be "Primal" but it's one good way to end a very good album.
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