Lauren Green and Marissa Macias use the music of Tan Cologne to reach a special place. There's real beauty here in the grooves of Earth Visions of Water Spaces, their awkwardly-titled new album. The tunes here are special, if a bit uniform in approach.
While it's an over-used term, dream pop is the genre here. Most of this record strives for a mood like something off of Victorialand, only amplified. Opener "Topaz Wave" conjured up both Harold Budd and Slowdive to me, while "Floating Gardens" is more clearly a Cocteau Twins nod. Single "Blue Swim" is a bit more focused, though still lost in the ethereal haze of the genre.
The band members are expert in creating a mood, and less so in crafting melodies that stick. The tracks all more or less sound the same, with the whole record having even more uniformity than even any Cocteau Twins album. And a listener is likely going to enjoy this if they're already a fan of the whole genre. I am, of course, but even I felt like these cuts needed more definition, more direction. As it is, things are beautiful here with Tan Cologne, but things also feel like they're just floating away into the atmosphere sometimes.
Earth Visions of Water Spaces is out now.
[Photo: Stereo Sanctity]