derives - slowcore, ambient, melancholic, sunny... indie music reviews & discoveries: He died while hunting - we used to dream awake (2011, Tipostal / Totokoko)

There are some bands you are condemned to enjoy, condemned to like, because they come from your area, because the musicians are nice guys, but mostly because, two thirds of their artistic references are also yours (Carissa's Wierd, Low, Pedro the Lion, Idaho, ...) and more importantly because they manage to sound good and adopt an approach you can compare esthetically to other European (very rare and precious) indie bands (like Anois, Komeït, Apeiron, My Autumn Empire, Acetate Zero, ...).

"We used to dream awake" is their first release, a mini-album of 22 minutes and 5 songs, and to be honest is is imperfect but without major weakness or unmendable flaw. It is just a record who makes you want to discover as soon as possible what they will record next, how will sound their first album.

They are playing bedroom pop in a melancholic and sensitive way. It is slow but always melodic, more laid-back than tense and the balance between music and vocals is nice. If there is something to criticize, it's their temptation to smooth everything. It is true that it works well with their monotony but more untied structures (developing atmospheres), and sparser vocals (the way they use repetitions creates a dilution effect) could give more drive to their songs. But speaking of textures and attitudes, there is nothing to change, they made the right choices and i simply hope it is just the first stop of a journey. Definitely recommended.