For those looking to take a step back from life and drift on a soothing wave of sound, then this debut effort from French act Sealight may provide the perfect contrast to the rigours of everyday life. A gentle, slide-guitar and echo-laden trip through vaguely pastoral, folkish territory, the closest analogy would be Pink Floyd (‘obscured by clouds’ era) playing Sigur Ros covers with members of Low on hand to help out, and it is certainly the latter band’s patented ‘slow-core’ that comes most immediately to mind when listening to this tranquil, five-track EP.
Opening with the gently rippling ‘dead letters’, the music is but the movement of a drop of rain falling into a becalmed lake, with the sounds slowly ebbing out from the source and Sandra Rossini’s beautifully languid vocals floating gently above all. Short, but perfectly formed, it is the perfect introduction to Sealight’s slightly melancholy world. ‘White walk’ is no less restrained, with the music and vocals recalling the softest reaches of Within Temptation’s acoustic work crossed with Spiritualized’s hypnotic approach. The track slowly, ever so slowly, swells to a crescendo of echoing notes as Sandra’s vocals approach the upper register, and then it all subsides, like a wave breaking on the shore, it’s power spent and you’re left only with the softly cascading notes to remind you the track was ever there.
The gentle urgency of ‘when the rain starts’ is next, with an insistent guitar part augmented by atmospheric flourishes and Sandra’s voice once again proving to be the primary focus of the song until, at least, Candice Coppere’s haunting trumpet breaks through the guitar and frames Sandra’s multi-tracked vocal with the simple elegance it deserves. It’s a beautiful, filmic track and like all the tracks here it is designed to stay long after its own, brief runtime has been exceeded. ‘The moon’ is comparatively straightforward, with Dave Olliffe’s subtle drones backing a piece that could almost be a traditional folk song if it wasn’t for the rippling waves of guitar backing the acoustic part. Final track ‘La Nieve’ closes the EP on the gentlest possible note, with the music used sparingly to allow Sandra’s vocals the chance to shine as brightly as possible, and when your voice is as beautiful as hers, that is no difficult task. Once again recalling the oh-so-gentle grandeur of Low circa ‘and the curtain hits the cast’, it is a whisper-quiet finale to an EP that is the aural equivalent of lying alone in the wilderness watching the stars slowly fade as dawn approaches.
With this EP Sealight have crafted a subtly beautiful, gentle, ambient release that will undoubtedly be loved by a select few who will become enraptured by its charms; anyone looking for a quick fix will not find it here, for Sealight deal in music that comes from an altogether different place. Relaxing, beautifully played and arranged and different, Sealight have crafted the perfect soundtrack to solitude.
