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Lunascape | Reflecting Seyelence

Would have been a great EP.
CD, B-Track/Zomba

Tekst: Manuel Aalbers

Publicatiedatum: 17 april 2002

Once there was a Belgian band named Hoover. They dumped their female singer and her replacement and renamed themselves Hooverphonic. One of the two singers that left the band, Kyoko, has now released her debut with her band Lunascape, a band echoing Portishead, Cocteau Twins, The Cranberries (I'm sorry!), and - indeed - Hooverphonic. A little softer and poppier than Hooverphonic, Lunascape's Reflecting Seyelence is easy on the ears. For once, I will do a song-by-song review of this record. Not because this is a monument in music and every song deserves at least a line or two, but since this record features enough good songs to write a review claiming that this is a brilliant record and enough moderate songs to write a - indeed - moderate review.

Opener Your Shadow might not be the best song you've heard recently, but follow-up Tears From The Moon is a song that seems to have existed forever without being a rip-off. My 2nd Skin is an average song on a record of many ups and downs. Lane Navachi (especially its intro) is also a classic in bloom. Here Kyoko uses her voice as an instrument rather than voice the lyrics. Add the sensual, almost Arabic, rhythms to this, and it seems Mother Nature herself is speaking to you. Unfortunately, Lane Navachi is surrounded by two of the weaker songs of the record: the Cocteau Twins-like Love=Creepy and Sin For Me. Piet "Ozark Henry" Goddaer plays the strings on one of the other softer, Cocteau Twins-echoing, songs Love Leather and on the multi-layered Sequoia, the latter being one of the stronger songs on the record. Yairo is another song in which Kyoko's voice becomes an instrument. Again, the rhythms are almost Arabic, but the tension is not as serene this time. Yairo is a very danceable song - that is, if you don't need 160 beats per minute. Inferno? on the other hand, is a soft, intense dream, although it has a dark moaning beat underlying the song. The dream continues during Morning Star, a nice song, but nothing more. Dream Scenario? with Piet Goddaer playing the Wurlitzer, is probably the most intense song. It is also one of the stronger songs. The song is so vulnerable: There's no way to deny how true the melancholy of this song is. Is Reflecting Seyelence more than the sum of it parts? Yes. In style, this is quite a coherent record, but the 47 minutes of music read more like a collection of singles including all of the b-sides. This could have been a great - no exceptional - EP or the first part of a full-length, but unfortunately it isn't.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/lunascape/reflecting-seyelence/1469/
Meer Lunascape op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/lunascape