Elesgiem

Magnet (6-7/01, p.98) - "...Positions itself squarely alongside shoegazing saints Slowdive, pairing cascading guitars with dour, reverb-laden vocals....a deliciously dour combo..."

With Sahene here working only with Leslie and Vish, Lowsunday, now using the short form of the name, released a suitably different follow-up album in Elesgium. While Sahene's general approach is still the dominant factor in the band, instead of the energetic if sometimes one-dimensional feel of its debut, Lowsunday here increases its range. Everything from Spacemen 3-tinged psych drone in opening track "Wallpaper Room" to the understated, slow pace of "Daystar" gets touched on. The songs that sound more immediately like those from the earlier album show evidence of altered arrangements -- planning and experimenting with quieter bridges and subtler verses and choruses, with the cresting-then-subsiding "Zuff" and the concluding improvisations of "...to Sleep" as good examples. Sahene vocally still is very much a descendant of Mark Burgess, but parallel to the musical changes experiments with different ways of delivery -- burying himself further into the mix at points, trying a gentler dreaminess and generally lighter tone at others. Ironically, compared to the focus of the debut, Elesgium has a bit more of a fractured, see-what-works approach as a result, but the exchange of that for a wider, less easily pinned down vision is more than satisfactory. Sahene's abilities at bass actually make for better results here than Turina did on the debut, while in Vish the band gains a more creative drummer -- not necessarily a quantum leap forward from the debut, but Vish sounds more willing to take chances and stretch more. Sahene's ear for satisfying aural drama hasn't missed a step -- songs like "Closer Closer" and "Disassembly," especially the latter, which majestically closes Elesgium, approach a unique power worthy of the Chameleons and Echo and the Bunnymen instead of simply taking inspiration from them. Appropriately mysterious, attractive cover art helps complete Elesgium's overall impact. ~ Ned Raggett