The Folk Implosion
One Part Lullaby

THE REVIEW

Today it's snowing and strangely I wake up happy, I've turned off my phone and removed the clock from my room so as not to have any unnecessary anxiety and worries... at least for the first days of vacation I want to forget the mess around. It's so nice to get up in the morning and see clarity everywhere. I leave the house to take a walk in the snowy village, mysteriously the chatter of people in front of the church after mass seems less bigoted than usual, provincialism doesn't bother me, and the newswoman seems almost talkative. Once back home, I want to continue this wonderful atmosphere I've created with the world today (which will end very soon)... a little music is what I need. Browsing through my many (but not too many) records, when the cover of "One Part Lullaby" by Folk Implosion catches my eye, I stop searching: this is just what I need.

As soon as I put the disc into the stereo, a drum lays over a vaguely electronic base accompanied by quite delicate guitar riffs... Then comes the voice of Lou Barlow, resigned and almost unrecognizable (if you think of "Bulbs of Passion" or "Don't" by Dinosaur Jr where he seems to spit his soul) singing a catchy tune. It's "My Ritual", the opening track of the album. The whole work continues along the same lines, pieces that are a combination of folk, pop, rock tinged with a bit of electronics and a layer (of course) of low-fi.

Songs that in their simplicity seep into your veins and bring a mix of light-heartedness and melancholy into our being... when I listen to this album I imagine myself walking in an American city in the rain, without an umbrella and among few people I don't know. Every now and then the downpour lessens and a few rays of soft light are ready to vanish soon. Meanwhile, my thoughts fall on a girl I love but don't have the courage to approach because she believes (rightly so) that I am a poor loser capable of putting her in a bad light in front of others... Just when the situation becomes really critical and suicidal thoughts swirl around in me, here comes the majestic "Noneed to Worry" to make the sun appear and dry my drenched body...

It doesn't really matter if "Back to the Sunrise" emits the last wave of melancholy. And to end this ditty of a romantic failure, I confirm the presence of a Lou Barlow in top form and in a different guise from what we were (or I was) used to.

1. My Ritual
2. One Part Lullaby
3. Free to Go
4. Serge
5. E.Z.L.A.
6. Mechanical Man
7. Kingdom of Lies
8. Gravity Decides
9. Chained to the Moon
10. Merry Go Down
11. Someone you Love
12. Noneed to Worry
13. Back to the Sunrise