ALC16 #7: Nostalgia for Infinity

[Anti]

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Nostalgia For Infinity by Sound Of Ceres

Sorry I'm a bit late everyone! I don't think I've ever had this much work concentrated into such a short timespan. Anyways, here's my AOTW: Sound of Ceres - Nostalgia for Infinity. Apologies for the short description, if I knew I would've been this busy I would've changed my week!

Sound of Ceres is a dream pop, shoegaze, psychedelic duo hailing from Colorado. This is their debut studio album and it's a strong start. My super short description of it is it's like a "nature-Beach House" with a mix of My Bloody Valentine. Very dreamy songs, soft spoken vocals, the lyrics have a lot to do with nature. The vocalist sounds like a young Belinda Butcher with a lot of mastering on the vocals. Some songs sound quite organic, some sound electronic. I actually ordered the vinyl for this without really listening to more than the singles and fortunately I was not disappointed. I laid on my bed and floated away to paradise. This is currently tied for my favorite album of the year. I hope some of you find a lot of enjoyment in it like I did.

Favorite tracks: Pursue, Hand of Winter

Please share your thoughts. I'll definitely hop around sometime later in the week to share more of my opinion on the album.

PS: This album can be streamed on Spotify or their Bandcamp.

[Tap]

So as I'm listening, the immediate thought is "damn, these are some really breathy vocals", like I know it's dream pop but this seems a bit extreme. But then on the third track there was a weird sort of thing where it felt like the breath was really prominent and almost like a harsh contrast to the lush instrumental stuff, that was cool. This album is nice, it's dreamy but not sleepy, it's mid-tempo and sounds pretty but then there's all these active turns to the structures of the songs, like mbv and beach house seem like they find a spot and mostly linger (which can be great/the best, of course), but these songs feel like they really go places without betraying the chill out vibe. it still feels a bit like those places are familiar territory though, even if it's never been delivered in this exact permutation. but this is a part of music I'm more of a tourist in so I'm probably not going to see the nuance. I enjoyed the listen tho and will be returning to it.

[craola]

OK Computer 2.0
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[mickilennial]

“Hand of Winter” and “Pursuer” were the highlights for me on first listen. Though a lot of the album was enjoyable for me, I felt it stagger (“My Spiral Arm”, “Dagger Only Run” are both kind of uneventful songs) occasionally which amounted in a sort of uneven listen. However considering these are all still ‘first impression’ sort of views my opinions could shift and change about it once I listen to it in more frequency.

[meccalecca]

I've listened to this a couple times since it was released. Still not exactly sure how I feel. It's one of those records with a good sound, but as I listen, it seems to float on past me without totally establishing a lasting impression.
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[RockyRaccoon]

I'm definitely a fan. The sound is pretty great, they definitely have the "dream" part of dream pop down, the whole ethereal feel is really cool. There were a couple highlights, the last track being one of them, and overall I felt like it was a pretty solid album, I definitely enjoyed it.
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[undefined]

just got around to this. Was a little unsure at first but I think I dig this. Very lush, soothing stuff. Subtly enveloping sonic wall type stuff. At times felt like it dangerously straddled that line between soothing and boring, but generally remained of the former. Put me to sleep by the end but I don't mean that in a bad way at all

[Grzywa]

For me it's one of these albums that flows smoothly but does not really stay with you. The biggest flaw are the weak vocals (especially the female one), too "washy" to my taste, even considering its dreamy nature. Some tracks just go on forever and My Spiral Arm would be a clear example here.

Having said that, it didn't hurt my ears; I found it growing stronger towards the end, and a couple of tracks attracted my attention. I like the oriental atmosphere of Side A, Kingfisher has something irresistibly Stereolab-like that I dig and I also consider Dagger Only Run a fine closing track.

It's OK, though not really memorable. Thanks anyway
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