Rather than doling out hooks, direction and depth through intricate flurries of conjoined instrumentation like its predecessor, The Moon Rang Like a Bell focuses on a simpler formula, allowing docile verses to develop and capsize with big swells of tension and triumph.
Hundred Waters thrive in the place where post-rock meets freak folk, and sing-song melodies are twisted into strange shapes by circuitry.
On The Moon Rang Like a Bell, Hundred Waters offers an album of quiet moments of subtlety juxtaposed with crashing waves of desperation.
The Moon Rang Like A Bell is a triple-jump forwards for Hundred Waters. They’ve dislodged the suffocating tag of folktronica, and are dominating a sonic rivulet they can call their own – though they share similarities with other acts, they never feel derivative.
Though best taken as a whole spectrum of sonic possibilities, every song offers a different set of highlights, from the wide-eyed pop of "Xtalk" to the dark looming tension of "Cavity."
As these emotional characters change form through some of the album’s tracks, Hundred Waters establishes an underpinning of ephemerality, a world where a temporary atmosphere exists simultaneously with feeling.
Despite the uncontrollable urge Hundred Waters have to cram in too much of their creative energy, they surely have the prowess to write an ornate pop record that puzzles out through well-crafted scrutiny.
The Moon Rang Like a Bell is a document and a product that might leave you alternately breathless and bewildered, but it is a generally likeable outing.
The Moon Rang Like A Bell starts off with captivating momentum, a potential to take you on a whimsical, emotional journey. But along the way it seems to have sacrificed that sense of purity first apparent in its experimentation.
Thanks to @mrmerle for recommending another fantastic record.
I don't understand how a record this gorgeous flies over the radar.
I adore Hundred Waters' sound; it's a mixture of melancholic, atmospheric, elegance and pain.
The atmosphere is haunting and raw, with it's elements of folk music being given a new lease of life as H.W. blend it together with Art Pop, a genre I have lots of admiration for.
Another highlight is the consistency, which this record never lets down the entire ... read more
Thanks to @mrmerle for recommending another fantastic record.
I don't understand how a record this gorgeous flies over the radar.
I adore Hundred Waters' sound; it's a mixture of melancholic, atmospheric, elegance and pain.
The atmosphere is haunting and raw, with it's elements of folk music being given a new lease of life as H.W. blend it together with Art Pop, a genre I have lots of admiration for.
Another highlight is the consistency, which this record never lets down the entire ... read more
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