Cyann & Ben - Spring
(Locust)
This French four-piece's debut is absolutely stunning. Recorded in a house in the country, the songs echo the pastoral, relaxed and intricately detailed setting in which they were recorded. The fact that Locust Music put this out immediately puts them among the recently explosive Folk Underground. Furthermore, Greg Weeks is thanked in the liner notes, giving creedence to the first impression that Spring sounds an awful lot like a Greg Weeks album.
But, as one would hope, there's far more to it than that. The vocals on the fourth track, "Siren Song," are the first to show a clear Sigur Ros bend. I hesitate to use this comparison in reference to Cyann & Ben for fear that it will make likely fans disinterested. However, the vibe and vocal melody clearly recall Sigur Ros. Not overtly, but, once you allow the comparison, you begin hearing it throughout the album. Another unlikely comparison (though far less odd) is the hints of Black Heart Procession's dramatics. Spring never reaches the impassioned fervor that Black Heart Procession so often achieve, but the black-mascara moodiness certainly colors Spring.
The album opens with "Buick to the Moon," whose chord progression and vocals are the first hint of Greg Weeks' influence. The layered synthesizer tracks that make up "Selected Ambient Work," are quiet, whirring and as the title implies, ambient. Cyann's beautiful voice takes center stage for the sparse (basically just acoustic guitar and vocals) "Behind Her Smiling Eyes." The falsetto singing and distorted guitars on "Melody" are a nice change of pace from the hushed, subdued vocals, and quietly brimming music found elsewhere on the album. The last track, "Neurotic Hope," is a shimmering folk ballad filtered through Pink Floyd's kaleidoscope. It clocks in at 6:30, but the track is over 19 minutes long. Finally, at the 16:40 mark, a silly, forgettable track begins. Leaving a bad taste in the listener's mouth, the song sounds like a "fun, acoustic, & bluesy" B-side from some terrible top-40 rock band.
However, that's a very small complaint for an otherwise amazing album. With more and more folk bands gaining prominence in the past year or two, Cyann & Ben's album has certainly earned them a spot in the limelight.
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