There is a very unfavourable review of this record somewhere on the internet (it’s not our place to link to it, nor to give it any extra publicity). The review in question is quite thought provoking – it suggests the album addresses clichéd, teenaged topics and leaves the listener feeling like a third wheel in a love triangle.
Let us bear this point of view in mind when we consider that this album, LEMURIA‘s second full length, was released on Bridge 9 records – many people’s favourite supplier of fine quality hardcore. A strange combination, but a nice side-step by both parties and, in truth, it is easy to see why this collaboration happened. At times, ‘Pebble’ (take, for example, standout track ‘Irregular’) floats along with a minimalist approach that is the trademark of the Bridge 9 ideal – Have Heart and Defeater always have worked on the ‘less going on at once is more’ ideal. ‘Pebble’ is, more than anything we have heard in a while, a whole album homage to this ideal – reminiscent a bit of the kind of space and simplicity you might hear from early Eels recordings.
The straight talking, predictable lyric pattern is a stumbling block for people trying to listen to Lemuria and at times it is difficult to fully find yourself engrossed in the words, but the ‘heart on the sleeve’ approach is clearly a transparent representation of the band – the male/female vocal tracks in particular (‘Yellowstone Lady’/’Different Girls’) representing a reflection of average, everyday conversation. Yes, at times you feel a third wheel in a slab of simplistic Americana, but we feel the aforementioned reviewer has ignored the fact that, sometimes, escapism and simplicity is something to crave.
Behind these down to earth visions is the constant flow of simple, yet slightly melancholic, rhythmic indie rock – and it’s refreshing to not hear a plethora of extra instruments. Simplicity it is, simplicity defined.