Various artists - Looking Down EP

Out now!

Format: 7", limited to 200 copies.

Reviews

Broken Face, Sweden

ja, här är recensionen som kommer i BF #15: The Trondheim-label 35g is by no means a new name to us but the aural side-trip that Looking Down marks for the label is well worth writing home about. Where previous outings have mainly focused on psych pop and indie rock of the most fascinating variety, this 7" compilation treads over much more folky territories which makes sense given label-head Karl-Morten Dahl's fascination with 70's British folk music. The contributing bands are all contemporary though. The first side consists of Norwegian Groan Alone's country-infused ballad "Looking Down" and the eminently layered downcast folk of the cross-Atlantic duo The Orchid Pool. The artists on the flip might be more familiar to regular readers of the 'Face as it features two old interviewees, namely Ring and Peter Scion. The latter contributes with a tribute to ghosts and one has to hand it to Peter for being able to create such a staggeringly apocalyptic mood. If you've wondered what the hell I've been talking about when I've praised these artists in past issues, here's a chance to catch up.

Dream Magazine, USA

Various Looking Down EP (35g Records kmd.fupp.net/35grecords/) This four song/ four artist 7\224 EP opens with Groan Alone alone on acoustic guitar singing the title song to his soul, which left his body when he died the night before; not really realizing he\222s dead. And it feels like a leaf blown weightless and carried high in the sunlight. The Orchid Pool (www.theorchidpool.com) are next with the exquisitely beautiful Have It, that was constructed by two musicians thousands of miles apart exchanging MP3s through emails. Karl Morten Dahl (of Aquarium Poppers) and Tony Paglia of The Orchid Pool make cool dark melodic magic that feels like hushed reverence; reminding me a bit of Martin Phillipps more sober underwater reveries. Ring is next with Path To Freedom, which conjours deep northern woods, and an insular combination of warmth and loneliness. The end things on the right note Peter Scion delivers the eerie otherworldly Like Ghosts, which sounds haunted, lovely and dark. This EP literally climbs from strength to strength.

George Parsons
Dream Magazine #3

Popopdrops, Norway

Meget bra samler med mer eller mindre syra folk og folkpop, Groan Alone bør være kjent, The Orchid Pool er en ny Trondheims-konstellasjon, nydelig, fragil men likevel nesten orkestrert folk for flere gitarer og vokal. Ring har vi stått bak fra dag en, og vi viker ikke en tomme, men registrer med glede at rytmemaskinen er lagt på hylla, og vi får strålende vokal, gitar, perkusjon og billig orgel. Svenske Peter Scion har så langt vi har registrert tidligere bare vært ute på CD-R, men bør være moden for større masser med sin strålende apokalyptiske folk for gitarer og tangenter og mollstemt vokal. 33 rpm.

Apartment, Norway

Exclusive tracks from Groan Alone and Ring, both Norwegian fellows, and a trans-atlantic work-out between Karl Morten Dahl and Tony Paglia, named The Orchid Pool. Swede Peter Scion is here as well. Tasty folk-psychedelia-country-pop from'em all! The Orchid Pool is especially quite a surprising new-comer. Hope to hear more from that camp.