Unicr0n

1) What are this albums' strengths?
This album is alllll about atmosphere. The minute I slipped my headphones on and started the first track, it grabbed me, put me in a place mentally, and did a very good job of keeping me there.

2) What are its weaknessess?
For me personally, there really aren't any, but I can see how some people might find it too mellow or uninteresting to hold their attention.

3) How does it compare to the artist's other work?
Having listened to all three of Auburn Lull's LPs this week, over and over, I can say that I definitely prefer this one to the other two. Neither of the other's really grabbed me in the same way. They had good tracks but nothing really held my interest in the same way.

4) Favourite songs?
Stockard Drive, Early Evening Reverie, Tidal.

5) What feelings did this album evoke?
Unlike the other reviews thus far, I pulled a much more melancholy sensation from this album as a whole. It made me feel like I was stuck outside in the cold, watching a family eating their dinner in their nice, warm cozy house while I'm freezing my balls off. Fingerless gloves, hand on the window, the whole movie-cliche shebang. That being said, I LOVE the feeling of melancholy, so I enjoyed it through and through.

6) How does this album fit into your regular rotation?
I don't have much of a 'regular' rotation, but this could find it's way on to my sometimes-used ~contemplative music~ playlist very easily.

7) What stood out to you about this album's themes, musically/lyrically?
It definitely captured the sensation of being alone quite well. The drones and swells create a kind of blanket that wraps itself around you and keeps you in your head.

8) If you've had any noteworthy experiences with this album, what have they been?
I was atrociously sick for a 24-hour period this week, and this album was the only thing that sounded even REMOTELY like something that wouldn't make me roll over in my bed and vomit until I died. So there's that.

9) What do you know about this album's creation? Any interesting facts or anecdotes?
Nada, but then I haven't really gone all ~internet detective~ on the band quite yet.

10) How does this album represent the chosen theme?
Excellently. The whole thing screams winter. Crunching of snow underfoot, the disconcerting silence that only exists above at least six inches of snow, the bitter cold on the tips of your fingers as you shove your hands in your pockets. All of it.

11) How does this album compare to other albums nominated for this theme?
I've never been a huge fan of The Lonesome Crowded West, so I can't say I've ever thought about it much in this regard. The Devil and God is a very fitting album for me personally, but that's due to a bunch of emotional garbage that really colours my opinion of the album. The Velvet Underground, Agalloch and Bob Dylan almost ALWAYS sound wintery to me. The other's I'm not that familiar with. But I'd say, out of the ones I do know, it's the best suited for the theme.

12) How does this album compare to others in its genre?
I know jack****-next-to-nothing about shoegaze and dreampop as a whole (though me and soulseek are currently rectifying that issue), but I'm hoping that everything else I encounter will be as enjoyable as this.

13) Can you recommend similar albums to this?
See above.

14) What does this album's artwork say about it? Is it well paired with the music?
I suppose. The sepia tone definitely goes well with the picture in my head when I listen to the album. The actual artwork itself though...I dunno. I wouldn't say it's in opposition with the the music, but I wouldn't say it complements it, either.

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Go ahead, pick apart my tastes. I know you want to.

Paedantic Basterd

The sepia colour to me is pretty much the exact shade of the sky on an overcast winter night. That just entered my head now reading the last review, and I hadn't addressed it.

Do you think that different types of people may interpret the solitary nature of this album differently? Perhaps different personal situations have led to my finding it thoughtful and contenting, and others finding it gloomy or depressing.

Unicr0n

I suppose personal situations affect how one would view the nature of the music. I think it is kind of dependent upon how certain noises make people feel. Things like feedback (outside of your traditional three second hardcore intro/outro) and delay/reverb swells have always been something I've associated with feelings of longing, loss or melancholy.

On the flipside of that, really crunchy, low end harsh noise walls and really stark, sharp single-tone square waves (which are things that most people seem to generally find unnerving/uncomfortable) I almost always find very comforting and soothing.

Maybe my real parents were killed by a giant blast of guitar feedback when I was little. I don't know.

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Go ahead, pick apart my tastes. I know you want to.

Zer0

This is very much true. One of the most beautiful and most powerful things about this type of music is it's ambiguity, the lyrics aren't important or are sometimes non-existent. This allows the listener to interpret the music in their own way and by using their own imagination they feel like part of the album a bit more. This all goes back to bands like Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, back to 70's ambient music like Brian Eno and back to classical music and beyond. I once read in an interview with Slowdive where they said that their biggest aim was to create music that doesn't force any thoughts or emotions on the listener, and to allow the listener to interpret their music in their own way. This is definitely true for this album, there's so many different ways to interpret it.

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Lisnaholic

I liked Stu`s description of how this album works for him. It`s a reminder of something that is true for all of us; "In my mind I still need a place to go," is how Neil Young put it on one of his own melancholy tracks. I like sad music too, but I didn`t particularly enjoy this album, and here`s why:-

^ This kind of approach sounds quite commendable in theory - how pure, how austere, how intellectual. The problem is that it`s also very restricting, because out go things like human warmth and musical excitement and if you are not careful you are left with not much more than an inoffensive electronic wash. For myself, I feel as if I`ve already heard loads of albums like Alone I Admire . After all, it`s not so long ago that we reviewed The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Silence, which was in a similar style.

Anyway, Alone I Admire fits the wintry theme pretty well and, of its kind is actually better than average, but it`s not for me; I`m usually too hyped up with caffine and the modern world to succumb to the exalted beauty that Auburn Lull is aiming for.

Zer0

There is the danger of that of course and I come across music like that occasionally, usually with some certain electronic music. You have to be careful though not to completely alienate the listener, I think this album strikes a good balance. But then again there is nothing wrong really with a lack of human warmth, it can add to a feeling of detachment from reality and even euphoria. It all depends on the listener's perspective.

By the way what will happen if this current poll ends in a tie?

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Above

1) What are this albums' strengths?

- Captures the winter spirit well.

2) What are its weaknessess?

- Too boring and repetitive for my tastes.

3) How does it compare to the artist's other work?

- Haven't heard much by them.

4) Favourite songs?

- Desert was the only one I'm fond of.

5) What feelings did this album evoke?

- Boredom.

6) How does this album fit into your regular rotation?

- Eh, not really at all.

7) What stood out to you about this album's themes, musically/lyrically?

- Was pretty solemn

10) How does this album represent the chosen theme?

- It was just very 'cold'-sounding.

11) How does this album compare to other albums nominated for this theme?

- I haven't heard many other albums but Northern Light, and I prefer that.

12) How does this album compare to others in its genre?

- I couldn't really genre it.

13) Can you recommend similar albums to this?

- Not really.

14) What does this album's artwork say about it? Is it well paired with the music?

- Wintery.

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Be pure,
Be vigilant,
Behave

Paedantic Basterd

I was just thinking, and I'm not speaking for anybody else, but I'm an independent person, and I value my personal time, and so perhaps that's why I took a comfortable solitude from the album.

Unicr0n

That's a very likely reason. I spend a lot of time a lone and in my own head to begin with, so the added solitude just kinda compounds in my head and makes me feel like I'll be alone forever, aha.

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Go ahead, pick apart my tastes. I know you want to.

Howard the Duck

when are we moving to the next album?

i am really not interested in this one at all, if Modest Mouse had won the poll, it'd be another story

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Malaise is THE dominant human predilection.