By Jason Walker
While I’m still a relatively new contributor here at Über Rock, it seems I’ve pigeon-holed myself a small bit for having a bit of a thing for anything remotely synthy; and in their defence they’re not wrong. So, when something lands in our review box that’s labelled as “guitar driven synth pop”, I am all over that, which brings L.A. Takedown’s ‘Our Feeling of Natural High’ to my attention.
I’m a massive fan of a lot of synth-heavy stuff ranging from The Midnight, to my latest favourite discovery, Vukovi. And L.A. Takedown’s offering certainly scratches the itch of synth-laden music alongside some nice tasty guitar work and tight drums that often remind me a lot of Mutemath.
The opening track, ‘There is a Drone in Griffith Park’, is a bit of a long one at just over 9 minutes long but is interesting enough on the whole to keep your attention for the whole journey and not outstay its welcome. It’s a pleasant ambient and often post-rock at times but conjures images of sunset beaches and the like of California, almost like an 80s documentary with a sullen voice talking about the heyday of the time.
‘Sunset Report’ brings the tempo up a notch with a more upbeat with more focus on the classic harmonised guitar sound that Iron Maiden were so fond of, at just under four minutes it genuinely feels like it could have been a bit longer and still maintained my attention. ‘Tokyo to Kyoto’ starts out a bit abruptly before cutting back to almost Giorgio Moroder style synths and a bass guitar sound that reminds me quite a lot of Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, fantastic track on the whole.
‘Moved’ on the whole reminds me a lot of Daft Punk’s more ambient tracks for some reason despite the track sounding like it’s got much stronger Pink Floyd elements, it’s quite an interesting clash of styles. So far this album is extremely diverse in each song’s overall identity which is a nice touch, and ‘The Swimmer’ continues this with another jarring intro part before moving back into atmospheric layered synths and again for another style referral, this reminds me very strongly of Jean Michelle Jarre’s Oxygene work. I do genuinely like the really minimalistic style of Drum playing which accents the style of the music just enough to carry it which is a nice break from some of the saturated and busy music I normally listen to.
‘Hugs On The Beach’ does a fantastic job of evoking scenes of drinking mimosas in a hut on the beach in the California sunset, it feels like there’s some semblance of the band Air in this, I absolutely love the ‘sparkly’ synth sound in this track too. Following this is ‘Top Down, Heat On’ which is probably my favourite track from this album, again this shows some really strong Pink Floyd influences, I think Rick Wright would be happy with the synth melodies on this track as they do a great job of maintaining your attention as the focal point.
Lastly, the album wraps up with the appropriately named, ‘When It’s Over’ which features some soft, sultry vocals that have some odd melodies but lends itself well to the overall sound of the song. Again, the Pink Floyd influences come through quite strongly, but this track serves to wrap the album up nicely.
On the whole, ‘Our Feeling Of Natural High’ is a very easy and pleasant listen that is well paced and each track has a strong identity but generally stays cohesive throughout the album. Probably won’t make your gym playlist but definitely worthwhile sticking on when the weathers nicer and you’re sat in the garden or on a balcony with a beer.
FFO: Pink Floyd, Air, The Midnight
- ‘Our Feeling Of Natural High’ is released on 20 March.
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