Venice is Sinking

Azar

(One Percent Press)

Record Review by Marcel Feldmar

Slow drift of guitar creeps up with the volume, and I’m immediately thinking of Low, but with a more orchestral swing.

This Athens, GA quintet creates a moody melancholic world that just fills you up with its delicate touch. Sparse, but not too sparse, Daniel Lawson and Karolyn Troupes mix and mingle their vocals like Christmas lights on a perfect tree. Lucas Jensen provides the steady but open drumbeats, which kind of hit like Flaming Lips against the dreamy pop swirls of instrumentation.

There are subtle Flaming Lipped touches on the vocals as well. Occasional hints of light fuzz fall across some of the songs, along with those enchanting vocals and graceful lines of keyboards, from the Rhodes to the Wurlitzer to your average piano. Each piece fitting together without leaving anything out, but at the same time, never any more than is needed.

Like the Cowboy Junkies gone shoegaze, or early Whiskeytown mellowed out and caught in a springtime rainstorm, Venice is Sinking moves sometimes surprisingly upbeat and sad (“Sunbelt”) and sometimes heartbreakingly slow (“Azar Four”). It’s like the alt.country dream pop album you never thought you would hear.