THE LIE LAY LAND

Multi-instrumentalist Katsuhiko Maeda is the mastermind behind what we know as World's End Girlfriend and with this project people took notice to what he had to say. Everything you hear in this album is made by him; The compositions, the instrumentation, you name it. He may well be one of the best unknown modern composer of our times and there aren't many people that know of him or his works.

The Lie Lay Land pretty much speaks for itself. It's post-rock like no other and it stands out aside from the bunch. The first time you listen to this album you won't even recall it being post-rock at all. It truly defies categorization. Derivative is a word that doesn't fit in World's End Girlfriend's context. But enough about that, let's talk about the album

The first thing noticeable is that Katsuhiko Maeda plays a wide variety of instruments even more so than previous World's End Girlfriend releases so it's very well orchestrated. The album also has an excellent mixture of electronica effects and more heart warming instrumentation. As I already mentioned in my review of Farewell Kingdom by them, they don't rely much on guitars as other bands. The guitar here has the same roll as the trumpets, horns, pianos and all other instrument played. It's also a pretty demanding album to listen to. It's rather unpredictable and you won't know what to expect next while listening to it, but that doesn't detract the beauty of it or the flow of the album, instead it makes it more demanding and engaging to listen to and it will keep you coming for more. Another great improvement in their sound is that none of the songs sound alike. Every song develops in its own distinct way. One of the best way to describe the atmosphere of this album is dreamy. I don't think there isn't an album that fit this description as well as this album except for Sigur Rós' Agaetis Byrjun, but they sound NOTHING alike so be warned. The album has a mystical feel to it as well. From the name of the album, cover, song names (Garden In The Ceiling, Unspoiled Monster, Phantasmagoria Moth Gate) to the actual sound and cinematic feel, The Lie Lay Land produces wonderful movie-like images of wonderful and surrealistic places that you will only find in dreams and movies. Plus the emotional factor of their melodies makes it all even more wonderful to listen to.

This album is one of the best post-rock has to offer. Katsuhiko Maeda is one of the artists that are on the vanguard of the genre breaking trends opening new ways to do their music without being bad at it or pretentious. He has my deepest respect. Recommended for every single fan of music. Dreamy, beautiful, demanding and well worth the repeated listens.

4.5

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