|
Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Yonlu shows influences
of Spanish guitar, avant folk, ambient pop, and acoustic rock on his
latest CD, A Society In Which No Tear Is Shed Is Inconceivably
Mediocre. As you might glean by the prophetic phrasing in the
album's title, Yonlu is an artist who makes his audience reflect over
the music and lyrics similarly to Bright Eyes. His songs are
observations about the world around him, the flaws and the beauty
which are inherent in society, and where he sees himself in this universe.
The Spanish flavoring of the opening track "I Know What It's
Like" has a palette of silky acoustics which cascade softly across
the melodic passages, and then drift into an amenable gypsy-stylized
chanting in "The Boy And The Tiger," which lobes into rows
of wispy acoustic rock arches along "Humiliation." Yonlu's
album is multi-faceted, decked in dramatically winged keyboards through
"Polyalphabetic Cipher" and a fresco of beautifully scalloped
guitar swags coruscating [through] "Q-Tip." Yonlu takes
the term "artistic" to a new level on these tracks, which
are filled with glittery guitar chords and sheathed in an ebullient
veneer. The acoustic cells streaming across "Little Kids"
roll with a casual stride, and watered in buckets of ambient mists
along the shafts of "Katie Don't Be Depressed." The dust-motes
in the acoustic guitar have a lullaby strobe along "Estrela,
Estrela" which then glide into a peppy rumba-sway in "Othe
Por Nos" before being saddled into a plain-clothed Beatles-esque
sonorous in "Suicide." The torchlight glow of "Lusna"
has a romantic flair, and the breezy strokes of "Waterfall"
are kerosene in cozy ambient winds.
Yonlu's tracks create an easy listening ambience hemmed in melodic
seams like The Beatles with chards of Spanish intonations and avant
folk springs that recall of The Polyphonic Spree. Yonlu's music
conveys a broad range of musical influences, gilded and sculpted into
soft melodic pop scoops. He breeds familiarity with avant-garde nuances,
creating art that demonstrates harmony among various textures and
shifting currents. He melds acoustic and electronic elements as if
they were made out of play-dough, and crafts frescos with world music
proportions.
-Susan Frances
Check out more
reviews
 Talk
Back
e-mail the chief
Like this article?
e-mail
it to a friend!
|
Yonlu
