Landing; Photo Credit: JP Chirdon
Connecticut group Landing celebrates their 20th anniversary this year, but shows no signs of losing creative momentum. On the contrary, Bells in New Towns, their second album for El Paraiso Records comes out May 4th and it’s arguably their finest and most cohesive effort to date.
The group’s sound has always been multi-textured, alluding to many different genres at once. There’s the heavy oscillating drones and the fuzzy, Motorik psychedelia, the lush ambient soundscapes, and shimmering, dreamy vibes – all tied together by that characteristic sense of fluid progression.
Bells in New Towns could be described as their most grounded release so far. On this record the ethereal components of their sound are firmly anchored by a tight, steady low-end – certainly due to the fact that the album was partly recorded by seasoned New England rock producer Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Elder, Pixies,
Sonic Youth).
The Big Takeover is pleased to premiere the dreamy video for the slowly unfurling track “Secret”. Bright guitar notes glisten against subdued, shaken percussion, ticked cymbals, and wavering keyboard notes and then disappear as a more ominous atmosphere takes over. Darker reverberations rock the contemplation – until ethereal female vocals, sky-bound guitars, a pushing bass line, and steady drum beat accented by cymbal taps lift the the song into spacegaze territory.
The video begins with vividly colored images of trees and flowers and then merges panning shots of the forest wilderness to trippy effect. The camera focuses on a young woman’s smiling face and the urbanized landscape of electrical transmission towers and wires and concrete walls covered in graffiti.
