I'll openly admit to the fact that the vast majority of my music preferences fall to the heavy side of the medium. However, there are times in my life when I just want to get away from all of that and chill out to something that is non-threatening and created for relaxing. Love Versus Dirt, the first full-length from the one-man project Lamella, is an ideal selection for a mood such as that.
Lamella is an ambient solo-project and brainchild of Austin, Texas based musician Loren Dent. I don't really know much about his background as a composer of music other than he is a member of the post-rock group Purchase New York. But unlike that group, the music that he has created under his Lamella moniker is of a whole other breed.
With Lamella, Dent delves into ambient, popularized by musicians like Brian Eno, Christian Fennesz, and Tim Hecker. As you make your way through the eight songs of this full-length, with songs varying in length from a measly five minutes to a lengthy thirteen minutes and forty seconds, one experiences a multitude of intricate sounds. "Screen Memories" opens the album with lush guitar tones, and free-form ambience that comes off sounding like softly swirling wave-like noises. There are also a few different electronic elements in place that add further texture to the song.
Dent uses these basic elements as the core formula throughout most of the songs here, though he does experiment with others on occasion. "A Silent Extinction Beyond the Zero" contains a number of different delay effects - nothing special in this genre I know - but they come off sounding like a horn being played faintly in the distance. This gives the song a very somber mood. Then there is the contribution of a violin by Matt Connoly on "Deserts Bleed Earth." Again, a slight addition to the standard form creates a whole other vibe in he music; this song comes off a bit more upbeat as compared to the rest of the material.
Love Versus Dirt is going to appeal to fans of experimental electronica, drone, and ambient. However, those into the softer side of bands like Eluvium and Mono, as well as the rest of the Temporary Residence Limited roster, may also fancy Lamella.
