Sefelt - "See"
(self-released 2003, CD)
Sefelt - "See"
(self-released 2003, CD)
From Aural Innovations #24 (July 2003)
Doug Long (drums), Paul Long (bass), Steve Long (bass, keys, samples), Andy Mahon (guitar), Joe Roberts (drums). I’m not big fan of sampled sound collages (voices from movies and TV), so when See opened with a sound collage I was a bit put out. The fact that it was an annoying 50’s/60’s sounding angry young man thing made it even more disagreeable. I’m glad I stuck around.
The sampled thing only happens at the beginning and the end and is easy to FF through. The rest of this recording is a dream. At first, it sounds like the instrumentals from some beautiful songs. After more listening, I noticed the songs have an identity of their own, even with no vocals. It’s mostly guitar jams with the guitar moving from speaker to speaker as Andy changes sounds/effects. The bass solidly inhabits the middle. At first listen, I thought the drums were a little busy and detract from the music. But further listenings found that the busy drums fit well with the overall spaciness of everyone else.
Finally, the samples are pretty "artsy" and probably cool to do in the studio. I’m sure that after listening to the same track for a number of hours trying to get it perfect there is that temptation to spice it up with something new and different. Resist this temptation. The music stands on it’s own merit.
For more information you can visit the Sefelt web site at: http://www.sefelt.co.uk.
Reviewed by Louis Hesselt-van-Dinter