Deep Elm
2001
Low Level Owl: Volume 1
About This Album
If one stands back from the mayhem of life around them and will honestly realize what has been done on volume one of Low Level Owl, they will be floored. Here is a band who has, for the most part, orchestrated a symphonic masterpiece and glides effortlessly from one track into another. Odd for the average indie rock fan? Perhaps. Unapproachable? Hardly. Ambience and environment are the keys here. Through a number of experiments and hard work, the band has made a piece that is truly larger than what many people may be able to appreciate. A few drawbacks of the album, however, are to be noted. While the drumming is nothing short of superb, much of the guitar work seems trivial and uncreative. It almost borders on the needlessly repetitive, which leads to another point: It seems as though many of these tracks are almost used as filler. Three minutes of drums played backward is interesting for about the first 30 seconds. After that, it's kind of pointless unless it's integrated into some sort of song. Therefore, out of the 14 tracks, one can see that quite a few of these might possibly be tossed, although the final piece, "View of a Burning City," is hypnotically hallucinating in its drone.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,10 and 14)

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