FELIX - Oh Holy Molar

True rare birds within the Kranky roster, Felix return after their refined debut of a few years back, "You Are The One I Pick", with an extra member on board, Yann Tiersen's drummer Yann Tiersen, Neil Turpin. A curious detail tied to the recording of this "Oh Holy Molar" is that the band discovered, only at the end of the sessions, that an abandoned dental surgery lay right beneath them.

Far less immediate than its predecessor, with barely-sketched melodies that create an almost spoken word effect on the title track, "Oh Holy Molar" confirms the class of the band's songwriter, Lucinda Chua, who favours austere piano compositions, as in the suspended, parable-like "Who Will Pity The Poor Fool".

A minimalism in the arrangements that is reflected, once again, in the minimalism of our artist's "conversational" style, as in the lovely "Sunday Night" and "Oh Thee 73": imperceptible movements that only an attentive heart can grasp. Slowing down your metabolism is a necessary condition for appreciating this "Oh Holy Molar", for perceiving the growing intensity of rain beating on the windows, for concentrating on silence, so as to amplify each individual sound.

This is how the dreamy melancholy of "Little Biscuit" filters through, how the slowcore of "Rites" vibrates through one's own organs – and the whole record recalls the latest A Weather – and how one takes fuller part in the enigmatic stasis of the two "Blessing" tracks.

An effort that might at first seem pointless, but one that Chua's oblique approach – which carefully avoids the easier solutions – fully deserves, even in the absence of any significant musical substance.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

03/05/2012