一聽音樂網

來自英國Brighton的四人電音民謠樂隊，五月份曾發過一張EP，叫Dust，當時就被里面一首Lost In Stereo所吸引，我發現他們的歌總是那么迷失于陰暗呢，與唱片發名字很切合。

It would be easy to label this with the awful Folktronica tag but that would be a disservice.



The Robot Heart are a 4 member band, all who all sing, making for a lush wash of voices on most of the tracks. Following on form their previous “Dust” EP, lead singer and main songsmith Tom Marsh has written a sadly personal and heartfelt collection of songs, mostly of loss, yet all shot through with rays of hope. The sound of dark clouds (slowly) lifting.

Along with from the lush, soft female backing vocals from the fantastically named Astra Forward, the finger picked acoustic guitar, and ambient electronics, there are some graceful musical touches on this disc. The wordless and dramatic “Raining Stones”, the opening piano arpeggio and slowly building, swirling chorus of “Lost In Stereo”, and the combination of melancholic lyrics with uplifting backing on “Static”.



You get the sense this is a band making music for its own sake, creating something special, not for the fame, fortune or notoriety of promotional treadmills, but for the sake of self-expression. Such is the cathartic nature of the songs. The fact that the band began by hosting their own grass-roots club nights in Brighton is testimony to their belief in creating safe havens for creativity.