Lilium - Felt (2010) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Right Where You Are
02. Mama Bird
03. Open
04. Felt
05. Her Man Has Run
06. Lily Pool
07. Amsterdam - Paris
08. Miracle
09. One Bear With Me
10. Believer

The beguiling music of Lilium certainly takes its time, maintaining as much room within its loosely rendered evocation of barren landscapes as they do space between album releases. Having started as an offshoot of Denver's gothic-country band 16 Horsepower, this side project has now become a primary focus - along with David Eugene Edwards' Woven Hand - after the dissolution of the original group on the heels of Lilium's last release, 2003's Short Stories. Clearly not rushed to get where he's going, guiding presence Pascal Humbert helms a deliberately slow-moving, highly ruminative journey in which a lonely desert atmosphere permeates a weighty inner psyche. Considering the permanent retirement of longtime drummer and partner Jean-Yves Tola, the cast Humbert surrounds himself with on Felt is different from last time, but fortunately still in tow are the enchanting, multilingual vocals of Kal Cahoone on several fine cuts, such as the disarmingly tender "Mama Bird." Cahoone's vocals fit in perfectly with the alternating songs sung by newcomer Hugo Race, the former Nick Cave accomplice and renowned Australian musician who contributes a certain weary gravitas reminiscent of Leonard Cohen. Though similar in many aesthetic respects to its predecessor, the sound on Felt is even more downbeat, anchored by gently winding guitar figures and restrained percussion, and frequently augmented by impeccable trumpet arrangements. So mesmerizing are these songs that, as they cast the audience under their spell, the music itself starts to feel like a force that is alive and breathing. The gripping finale "Believer" finds Lilium at the peak of their powers as they collectively summon a brooding intensity on par with Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers, simultaneously building upon and easing off the preceding tracks using only a sparse template. There's plenty of drifting experimentation and unassuming invention found on the aptly named Felt, and not a single wasted moment.

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