Pompeii / Cate Le Bon.
Material type:
MusicPublisher number: CD-MEX-3152 | Mexican SummerMEX315 | Mexican SummerPublisher: [Brooklyn, NY] : Mexican Summer, [2022]Description: 1 audio disc (43 min., 18 sec.) ; 4 3/4 inContent type: - performed music
- audio
- audio disc
- Produced by Cate Le Bon and Samur Khouja.
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult CD
|
Main Library | CD | POP/ROCK Le Bon, Cate | Available | 33111009970977 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
As her work has grown, Welsh auteur Cate Le Bon's abstract inclinations have crept more and more into the forefront. Experimental moves that once only surfaced in her Drinks side project or in production for other artists crested in the insular, prismatic songwriting of her excellent 2019 solo effort Reward, and sixth album Pompeii applies that same risk-taking mind set to songs that are more colorful and more bizarre. There's a murkier quality to Pompeii than Le Bon's work usually takes, with layers of '80s synth tones, saxophone, occasional bursts of prickly guitar, and slippery basslines mixed into dense blocks of sound. The foggy production is a huge shift from the comparatively stark and direct sounds on earlier albums and gives the woozy funk-pop of standout tracks "French Boys" and "Running Away" a plastic sheen similar to Station to Station-era Bowie and hints of City pop mellowness. Bass takes on new prominence here, with Le Bon writing a good portion of the album on bass guitar. This makes the oozy grooves that only sometimes came through in previous work the central focus of many tracks. Songs like "Cry Me Old Trouble" and "Harbour" are built on fluid, busy bass playing, with waves of percussion and muddy synths vibrating outward from the steady rhythm section. While the album was created in isolation due to COVID-19 restrictions, it feels far less lonely than the often somber Reward, with Le Bon instead bending her distinctive vocals and oblique hooks into gregarious and celebratory expressions. The conflicting colors of Pompeii are relaxed and flowing, strung together with extra reverb and pleasantly crowded arrangements. All nine songs blend into a unified whole, replacing precision and detail-centric immediacy with an intriguing smear of sounds. The dense and shrouded nature of this album means you sometimes have to wait for the clouds to clear before certain lines resonate or choruses grab you, but once they do, they don't let go. ~ Fred Thomas
Title from disc label.
All songs and arrangements by Cate Le Bon.
Performed by Cate Le Bon, vocals, guitars, synthesizers, bass, piano, percussion ; with additional musicians.
Produced by Cate Le Bon and Samur Khouja.
Recorded on Plantagenet Street, Cymru; Saxophones and piano recorded at Studiowz, Sir Benfro, Cymru; Drums recorded at Golden Retriever Studio, Sydney, Australia; Vocals recorded at Vacant TV Studios, London.
Dirt on the bed (4:28) -- Moderation (4:04) -- French boys (5:14) -- Pompeii (4:35) -- Harbour (4:08) -- Running away (5:43) -- Cry me old trouble (5:04) -- Remembering me (4:34) -- Wheel (5:28).
Mae angen 24 awr o rybudd i weld y deunydd = Access requires 24 hours notice.
Cate Le Bon's sixth full-length studio album and the follow up to 2019's Mercury-nominated Reward, bears a storied title summoning apocalypse, but the metaphor eclipses any 'dissection of immediacy,' says Le Bon. Sonically minimal in parts, its lyrics jog between self-reflection and direct address. Written primarily on bass and composed entirely alone in an 'uninterrupted vacuum,' Le Bon plays every instrument (except drums and saxophones) and recorded the album largely by herself with long-term collaborator and co-producer Samur Khouja in Cardiff, Wales.