Splendour
Mark Champion | San Antonio, TX United States | 07/01/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"'Splendour' is right. This is quintessential Felt, with guitarist Maurice Deebank still in the band. The sound is mellow, melodic, understated, lovely . . . I wonder if Gary Ainge's drumkit even had cymbals; his minimalism is a major part of the effect of this music. 'Mexican Bandits' was released as a single - - a shimmering and driving instrumental. And it's the instrumental passages that work best, not to detract from Lawrence 'Lawrence' Hayward's breathy, (Lou) Reedy vocals and beautifully imagistic lyrics. It's just that the music is staggeringly imagistic on its own - - 'The Stagnant Pool', with its extended instrumental coda, is as languorous and humid as its title suggests. The effect is psychedelic, whatever the intent. And Deebanks's solo closer, 'A Preacher In New England' is everything The Durutti Column aspired to. Really - - this is a great mini-album, too short by half."
Felt in all their wonderfully murky, dreamy excess
Lypo Suck | Hades, United States | 01/14/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The spare, guitar-based art-pop sketches of the debut, Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty, give way to a fuller, more fleshed-out sound here on their 2nd album, The Splendour of Fear. The more solid and forceful rhythmic foundation is a welcome shift, and luckily it doesn't detract from the wonderfully hypnotic atmosphere singer Lawrence and lead guitarist Maurice Deebank conjure with the intricate, delicate, highly melodic mesh of their guitars. Drenched in a murky but alluring and sometimes shimmery atmosphere, producer John Rivers perfectly captures and enhances the dreamy haze in which this period of Felt's music was clearly intended to evoke. Lengthy instrumental passages dominate (only two songs feature vocals); sometimes lazy, other times fairly intense. "The World is as Soft as Lace" is a dizzyingly beautiful, low-key standout, defined by Deebank's soaring, majestic melodic guitar, and Lawrence's gentle, acoustic strumming and brooding croon. Felt's pop side in a nutshell. Despite this album's strangely soothing brand of melancholy and offbeat, 'downer' vibe, it may not be the best starting point for newcomers, who should instead start with the poppier (but no less riveting or melodic) Strange Idols Pattern. This record goes down a bit easier once you're already familiar with Felt's aesthetic."
Track Listings (6) - Disc #1