Issue #51 - September/October 2014 - alt-JThe Proper Ornaments
Wooden Head
Slumberland
Sep 26, 2014
Issue #51 - September/October 2014 - alt-J
The Proper Ornaments are happy-when-it-rains Londoners. Wooden Head, their sophomore album, plays like history’s best jangly, nocturnal guitar bands being reduced to whisper levels (imagine the circular, noir-ish surf licks of Marquee Moon, “Just Like Honey,” and early Felt emanating from a distant neighbor’s window).
If road trips never taken and Augusts spent indoors have a sound, surely it’s this. Listening evokes the peculiar melancholy of flipping through stacks of yellowing thrift store Kodachromes that document the long-gone good times of strangers you’ll never meet. Full of murmured, muted harmonies and evincing a loneliness both personal and provincial, Wooden Head is a Byrds-worshipping, bummer-in-the-summer mystery. Why visit the California coast when you can simply stay holed up in a dreary flat, daydreaming of it? (www.theproperornaments.bandcamp.com)
Author rating: 7/10
Average reader rating: 10/10
Most Recent
- 10 Best Songs of the Week: Palehound, Pip Blom, Margaret Glaspy, Blonde Redhead, and More (News) — Songs of the Week, Palehound, Pip Blom, Franz Ferdinand, Margaret Glaspy, Blonde Redhead, The Clientele, Protomartyr, Oceanator, Helena Deland, Foo Fighters, Patio
- Neighbourhood Weekender, Warrington, UK, May 27-28, 2023 (Review) — Self Esteem, Pulp, Picture Parlour, CMAT
- SXSW 2023, Austin, Texas, March 10-19, 2023 (Review) — Coco and Clair Clair, Teethe, Peel Dream Magazine, Indigo De Souza
- Fontaine D.C’s Grain Chatten Shares New Solo Song “Last Time Every Time Forever” (News) — Grain Chatten
- Bloc Party Team Up with KennyHoopla on New Song “Keep it Rolling” (News) — Bloc Party, KennyHoopla
Comments
Submit your comment
There are no comments for this entry yet.