FALSE MEMORY ARCHIVE

I really like this. It is thoughtful, melodic, dark and moody. I enjoyed it even more, once I had got those, "where I have I heard this before' niggles out of the way. This started on track one with "We, the Drowned". There is an Arena groove going on from the "Moviedrome" album followed by a sneaky piano line from the album " The Incident" (Porcupine Tree). It took me a day to figure out the main tune during "the lights" which is "Sound of contact" and then the obvious clapping from "Trains" from PT which also appears in the title track. (That could become a distraction) Now I could start listening, I enjoyed "Claire De Lune" with a Lunatic soul or No-man vibe, the title track with it's reference to polaroids and faded dreams of summers past, "The Lights" which has a groove with a spoken word, reminded me of Depeche Mode or Placebo, not sure why.

On the first few listens, I thought the album faded a little after this, but actually, after repeated listens I actually enjoyed the mood of the last three tracks, in particular, "Psalm 51" which rounds everything off with a Floydian feel with saxophone (not my fav but used well here) and underlying voices reminiscent of DSOTM.

This has the sound of their previous album because it is unmistakable due to the vocals which remind me of Colin Vearcombe of "Black" from the eighties which I think is a good thing, however, there is more variety in the use of instruments and style. At times you can make comparisons to other artists, in a positive way, but their sound is unique and it gives me melodic and moody sounds that I enjoy, I suppose like a more accessible Thomas Thielen or hook filled "Mice on Stilts" (New Zealand band worth a listen if you like this)

This band is up there with Gazpacho and Airbag, adding to the Norwegian list of top artists producing this type of music.