Early into Leave Me Out of This it becomes clear that this a band in command of its sound. With ease and brilliant sharpness, the songs play out with a restrained beauty. This is moody, dreamy pop that would fit nicely with the whole '80s shoegaze movement or some of the more recent interpretations of that British phenomenon of sound provided by the likes of Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, and the Jesus and Mary Chain. When vocalist Anne Reekie's fading whispery voice comes in on the album's second track "I Didn't Say" Drugstore quickly comes to mind.

This Drugstore comparison holds up for much of the record, Reekie's vocal delivery comparable to Isabel Monteiro's with a similar atmospheric background that builds a wall of sound gradually around the quiet musings sung with odd pronunciation.

"Reeling As You Come Around Again" is a slow-moving song filled with longing, a quiet contemplative lullaby clocking in a little more than 5 and a half minutes. It's one of those songs you can easily find yourself getting lost in. Seconds into it you are locking in on a repeating guitar lick or a distant washed out sound of a keyboard waving in and out. In the end, the song doesn't take you into a big crashing finale. It leaves you hanging. But it's okay because the next track, "Talking A Hole In My Head" turns to the rock, a mirror opposite with energetic guitar bursts and a noisy climax. Still, the more climatic noise the whole album seems to build up to doesn't come until "Old Friend," which borders on chaotic as all of the elements the band so wistfully blends throughout reach their peak.

Like many of their contemporaries, Fiel Garvie require an attention span or at the least a willingness to get caught up in the wave of soundscape they elegantly create and a patience to see through to the shining end of their melancholy universe.

posted 11.27.03

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Matt Ralph has bags full of bad CD's. Add to his collection at matt@tangzine.com