Luke Sutherland, the mastermind behind Bows, really knows how to drape a gauze of sparkling sensuality on top of his work. His second release, Cassidy, contains hazy, Spiritualized-sized orchestration, Gus Gus/Massive Atta... more »ck-styled trip-hop, and a Low-like sense of minimalism. On Cassidy, guitars sound like harps, and hushed, breathy vocals (from Sutherland and guests from acts like Speaker Bite Me and Snowpony) become naked siren songs. Beats appear and disappear in vapor trails within the tracks. The overall sound may float near shoegazer, slowcore, and drum & bass, but the music comes in cloudy forms that change and lose shape once you try too hard to categorize them. Bows uses basic vocal and synthetic sounds to inflate the songs, making them rise to heavenly heights of narcotic pop, but the twinkle of bells and organs keeps the innocence level just as high. Cassidy is a dreamy record, one that brings all the aural comforts of Slowdive with the additional kick of the occasional beat to keep the disc moving. --Jennifer Maerz« less
Luke Sutherland, the mastermind behind Bows, really knows how to drape a gauze of sparkling sensuality on top of his work. His second release, Cassidy, contains hazy, Spiritualized-sized orchestration, Gus Gus/Massive Attack-styled trip-hop, and a Low-like sense of minimalism. On Cassidy, guitars sound like harps, and hushed, breathy vocals (from Sutherland and guests from acts like Speaker Bite Me and Snowpony) become naked siren songs. Beats appear and disappear in vapor trails within the tracks. The overall sound may float near shoegazer, slowcore, and drum & bass, but the music comes in cloudy forms that change and lose shape once you try too hard to categorize them. Bows uses basic vocal and synthetic sounds to inflate the songs, making them rise to heavenly heights of narcotic pop, but the twinkle of bells and organs keeps the innocence level just as high. Cassidy is a dreamy record, one that brings all the aural comforts of Slowdive with the additional kick of the occasional beat to keep the disc moving. --Jennifer Maerz
CD Reviews
Cassidy (4.5)
10ma | Terre Haute, IN USA | 07/12/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The thing about Cassidy is that it's not that different from Blush. The only real difference I noticed from both CDs is that Cassidy has more female vocals and actually appears to be slightly softer than Blush. None of these things is really a bad thing, but they aren't necessarily good things. The tracks are still as charming, and still as different in comparison to most other CDs out there. The bad thing is that they lack individuality. One track seemlessly flows into the next, which normally is a good thing like in Boards of Canada's "Geogaddi" or Stereolab's "Sound Dust", but in Cassidy, it just makes them indistinguishible. 'Luftsang', the title track in Cassidy bears a striking resemblence to 'Big Wings', which is the title track in Blush. Granted, both tracks are awesome, but it just seems a tad identical. It's almost as if Luke Sutherland was rushing the CD in some way, but instead of sacrificing musical beauty, he ended up losing a sense of interest in each of the tracks. When he was in Long Fin Killie, his CD 'Amelia' had a spark. When he made the metamorphosis into the alias of Bows, there was another spark, but his follow-up CD ends up being a dull knife trying to penetrate the side. For those that didn't care for Blush, they probably wont care for this. And for those who loved Blush, they'll love this, just possibly a little less. Despite some of the problems, it still surpasses other CDs as far as the eye can see."
BRILLIANT, GROUNDBREAKING DREAM-TEMPO POP.....
fredofla | LOS ANGELES, CA. USA | 04/18/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"...in the same spirit as Sutherland's BOWS debut "Blush", this courageous album solidifies his masterful leap in transforming the original darker intentions of triphop to chill-out and "lighten up" already. How? Well, he makes it all seem so easy by recombining only the finest blends of warmest world-grooves with its cooler counterparts born of ideas that originated in the realms of My Bloody Valentine/Cocteau Twins dreampop. Voila!!! Like magic, a little bit of heaven descends into the larger themes of emotional addictions and physical excess. "Cassidy" is the equivalent of finding an azure blue oasis right smack in the middle of urban anxieties. This music has tranformative powers....and will quickly have you in a state of aural transcendance and bliss. All the darkness that had pervaded early triphop bands like Portishead and Massive Attack is tossed into the cumulus outter-space of gamelan inspired bells and chimes decorating Sutherland's mystical, groove-laden sonic landscapes. The innovative beats and vocals that inhabit this rare collection of songs are, in a word, sublime. AN INSTANT DOWNTEMPO CLASSIC! NOT TO BE MISSED! GORGEOUS AND HEALING PARTY MUSIC!"
SIMPLY AMAZING
bowery boy | seattle | 10/11/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It's ethereal mid to down tempo trip hop, almost ambient in a way with a little bit of this and a little bit of that thrown in for good measure. Think cocteau twins with a little bit of my bloody valentine; a touch of every trip-hop artist you can think of with dreamy male and female vocals; and random drum'n'bass beats with weird sound effects thrown in when you least expect it and you've got bows cassidy. Not as dreary as alpha's latest, `the impossible thrill' and not as manic as lamb's debut. It falls somewhere in between, excellent chill out music.
On every trip hop CD there's at least one track that's pure perfection. Not a single note, bassline or lyric needs to be changed. Massive Attack's `proctection'; lamb's `lusty'; nicolette's `song for europe'.
With Cassidy it's `man fat' and `B Boy Blunt'. `Man Fat' incorporates dreamy floating vocals over the most delicate drum'n'bass beat with sadly ambiguous lyrics. Is she singing to a drug-addicted boyfriend? An abusive boyfriend? And when she sweetly sings the line: "Whatever makes your day . . . for YOU. Anything you say . . . it's ALL lies." GOOSEBUMPS!!!!
`B Boy Blunt' has perfect breakbeats and when the track pauses for a moment of silence and then the words: "So long to BOYS!!!!!!!!" kicks in with the beat its AMAZING!!!! Simply amazing. Half way through the song, it pauses again, then the words: "So over JOYED!!!!" kicks in with the beats which are slowly swallowed up by a My Bloody Valentinesque sonic wall of guitar feedback. Wonderful!
The production values on `cassidy' are amazing and each track is atmospheric and dreamy (check out 'cuban welterweight ...' only a simple bassline and gorgeous vocals) but because this is a different type of trip hop it does take a few listens before fully appreciating its wonder and beauty. I think it's partly because there's several vocalists on this CD: Luke Sutherland, the mastermind behind bows (who is also a novelist); Ruth Edmond, a personal friend of his and the voice behind `man fat'; Signe Hoirup Wille-Jorgensen, a Scandinavian vocalist who has been compared to bjork; and someone else called the Cream Team.
Ton Ten All The Way Home is listed as the twelfth track but actually it's one of those annoying hidden tracks that appears about eleven minutes into track eleven. All in all this is by far one of the coolest CDs I've ever bought on a whim. I'm so excited by it that I plan on going out and buying their debut release `blush'.
If you're looking for an intelligent take on trip hop, bows `cassidy' is it."
Fantastic achievement
W. Y. Yang | New Haven CT USA | 10/05/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"ever since their debut cd "blush" this band has remained one of the best kept secrets in the music industry today and their sophomore effort "cassidy" is nothing less than stunning in terms of their superb ability to incorporate complex texture and rhythmic layers this band has found a unique voice that makes them stand out from the rest of the trip-hop/electronica bunch which is an acute sense of melodies and a wonderful mixture of atmosphere and substance to make this band a well-rounded musical wonder so long story short this is a fantastic achievement by one of the most under-heard bands on earth today and thank you for reading by the way don't forget to go out and get the cds by ALPHA they are brilliant."
Another good collection from luke sutherland
Joe from Chicago | Chicago IL | 02/19/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Luke Sutherland really impresses me. It surprised me how much lighter this CD is than his first, and still just as good. Highly recommend this to anyone with a good ear for new sounds."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
