Posted on 09/22/2005

 

It's a great cliché to be asked to sum up a piece of music or an artist in one word. Being the obsessive analyzer I am, I find that task to be nearly impossible, not to mention just flat out annoying. Not very often am I able to come up with one word sufficient enough to describe music that I feel is deserving of much more than one word. However, in the case of the Cranes, I would have absolutely no problem summing them up in one word. The latest album they have to offer is a particularly loping slice of post-shoegazer laptop induced modern Brit-pop that I would, without hesitation, call dreamy. Song after song of light, airy, effects-heavy guitars layered on top of looping drum patterns and atmospheric keyboard and synth sounds. Ali Shaw's vocals lie somewhere between Hope Sandoval's distant, uninterested tone and a sort of modern day Blossom Dearie who's smoked some of those funny smelling cigarettes (and her brother pretty much sounds like her male counterpart on "Every Town", the one song where he handles vocal duties). If this isn't a perfect companion piece for slumbering away the night, it's certainly the next best thing.

Diversity is not the Cranes strong suit, however and maybe that's the point. All of the songs come and go and a few minutes pass and you may or may not have noticed the whole thing took place. Because Ms. Shaw's vocals pass in and out of coherence, it's very easy to pay attention to the washes of towering, atmospheric sounds and take her voice as just another brushstroke of color in the sonic picture the band paints. The second half of the record is infinitely more interesting than the first as they actually work with some tempos over 65 BPMs and write a coherent bassline (on "Streams").

Overall, it's hard to really know where to place the Cranes. They're not goth enough to fit in with the Cure, not loud enough to fit in with My Bloody Valentine, not artsy enough to fit in with Radiohead and certainly not pop enough to fit in with Coldplay. Yet, their music evokes similar sounds and feelings found in all of those groups' music. It's like one big melting pot of styles and the end result is just as odd and unsure as the ingredients that created it. But by the point Ali Shaw says "The universe is ours…" on "Light Song", the albums undeniable highlight, you'll be too mentally sedated to think about it, or even care. Easy to listen to, difficult to assess. Dreamy indeed.