Lemuria – Pebble
The third full-length album for Buffalo duo Lemuria was a hugely anticipated 2011 treat for all their fans. Their previous two albums received a lot of deserved praise and following a European tour the news that a third was on it’s way, a long time after the release of Get Better and the first release on Bridge 9 showed that Lemuria want a place in your record collection. It’s hard to describe Lemuria as a band; they have influences from so many different genres and decades and are currently signed to a hardcore label. Fuzzy guitars and upbeat drumming provide the backdrop for the mousy high pitched voice of guitarist Sheena Ozzella and the monotonous low drone of drummer Alex Kerns and the combination is brilliant.
The duo have obviously spent time creating Pebble as a well thought out album, a move away from The First Collection and Get Better which sound more like a collection of songs in no particular order. The opening track ‘Gravity’ is a haunting melodic introduction to the album with a down beat feel that would have been out of place on a previous album and hints that Lemuria have move away from the poppy, catchy choruses that make them great. If this worries you as a fan then don’t worry, the rest of the album is full of them. ‘Pleaser’ is the first track on the album to feature both Sheena and Alex singing and captures the unique sound of Lemuria but with a breakdown in the second half of the song that shows a maturity in their song writing. It is a shame that Alex Kerns doesn’t take the lead on vocals until track 7 ‘Different Girls’ as his voice is different to anything around at the moment and for that reason it stands out as one of the best tracks on the album. The song is about a girl worrying that her boyfriend is sleeping with girls and getting drunk while on tour and his response to this; something that everyone can relate to.
‘Chautauqua County’ is the first single to be released and has a great recurring chord progression and the chorus of ‘oh’s will be fantastic live; this leads into the final track of the album ‘The One’ with the lyrics ‘I’m a mosquito bite on your arm/ Itching until you bleed and scar/ why do you love my?’ playing off the opening lyrics of the album ‘You’re good at breaking hearts/ Someday you will be old/ Gravity will destroy you/ And what you were good at’ and switching around the heart breaker.
Overall the album is a clear progression for the band and promises maturity, it is full of catchy choruses and interesting uses of instrumentation, vocals and lyrics that are hard to pin down which combine to create something differently brilliant. The only let down is the lack of lead songs from Alex Kerns but then he does have a solo album out!
8/10
