Album: Sun Airway, Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier (Dead Oceans)

Andy Gill
Friday 14 January 2011 01:00 GMT
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As an intimation of musical intention, the title Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier pretty much nails it here, Philadelphia duo Sun Airway dealing in a miasmic drone-rock that brings to mind My Bloody Valentine collaborating with The Flaming Lips.

The singer Jon Barthmus has a taste for imagery both cosmic and oceanic, offering to "lasso you the moonshine" in "Oh, Naoko" and fantasising that he "woke up as a snowflake on an ocean" in the opening "Infinity", a dense sussurus that envelops the listener like a fibreglass blanket. A sense of awestruck wonder permeates tracks such as "Swallowed by the Night", though when Barthmus tries to deal in more human terms, with the inverse "Ebony & Ivory" schtick of "Shared Piano", the results are less successful.

DOWNLOAD THIS Infinity; Swallowed by the Night; Waiting on You

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