A lot of people consider Radiohead to be depressing music, and it certainly is, however its depressiveness is the kind for people who end up on Prozac at 19 and stay on it for the rest of their lives. Thom Yorke's is a hollow sadness, and I can understand that, because I've experienced that before. However, it's a little too mopey for me nowadays and I fancy my depressing music to be more maudlin than mopey. I don't want to fill whatever gap or emptiness resides within to some emotional homeostasis, but rather to make that gap larger and more exposed for 45 or so minutes so afterwards, it kind of heals and shrinks a little, and I realize that my circumstance isn't as bad as it could be. I want it to be therapeutic, to achieve some end and help me - not numb me.
I get myself into trouble sometimes with my hyperbolic metaphors. My description of that LN album took superlatives to a new zenith, and now I’m faced with the task of describing an even MORE depressing album via some form of elative. With LN, there's a definite immaturity to his writing. That's probably not a good word because its connotations can be demeaning (youthfulness?), but what I mean to say is that if LN is music for heartbreak at 23, Montgolfier Brothers is heartbreak for 33 or 43. Not break-up heartbreak, but divorce heartbreak. I've had these albums for several years now, and every winter I bust them out when I'm in 'the mood' and they resonate more and more with me each year.
Mark Tranmer isn't the kind of guy who knows a couple chords and has enough of a poetic/tortured soul to still make compelling music; he is the rare breed who is also a born composer. The sounds shimmer with the beauty of a blanket of winter snow, cloaking and cleansing everything in the whitest of whites. I've talked many times about how beauty and sadness are often closely related, and this is a fantastic example of this. Tranmer's discography consists of 3 albums, and there isn't a single song below stellar on any of them. One of my favorite bands for this time of year. Take a listen below and you'll hear why.
Rating: 10/10
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