As a staff member here at Scene Point Blank, I get to choose the promotional discs that I review. Bands from across the globe send in their EP's and LP's so we can give them our input. I chose Jonquil's Lions, because the press sheet said they have played with A Silver Mt. Zion, formed by members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Said to be influenced by bands such as Akron/Family and Swans, this U.K. group presents fourteen songs that contain an array of instruments (ukulele, melodica, organ, accordion, trumpet, violin, glockenspiel, and banjo among the expected bass, drums and guitar).
"Lily" slowly grows from one guitar to an overwhelming amalgam of voices and instruments in under three and half minutes. As the first track, "Lily" proves to listeners that they should expect to hear more beautiful music. The strength of this song, however, leaves expectations too high for the rest of Lions. While there are other songs that stand out, the beauty presented in "Lily" is not consistent throughout the album.
"-------," an untitled song, is a very calming, instrumental track. Glockenspiel dominates the beginning of the song, but quickly becomes part of the background noise as serenading horns take over. The eponymous "Lions" sounds like the music an old time accordion street vendor would play. I can envision the members peddling trinkets along the road as they play. The vocals on this song sound like many people contributed to them, but only one vocalist is cited in the track listing. Hugo Manuel must have recorded his voice several times to achieve the sound.
Some songs slip by the listener's ears, unnoticed because they lack interesting instrumentation. These "filler" tracks, such as "Pencil, Paper," "Here's to the Little Man," "Sleepy Little Pudding," slow down the flow of Lions. If Jonquil can drop their bland songs and focus more on the songs with multi-layered, interesting parts, they're much more likely to get noticed by their peaceful, brimming music.
