I Am On Your Side is good, in an extremely chilled out way, with very endearing atmospheres, nice ambiences and sounds pinned together with washes of guitar.
[Release page] Any release that has the word mellifluous within the body of its promotional material has to be, at the very least, worth a listen. Northerner’s latest offering is a full length album called I Am On Your Side released by Home Assembly, and does indeed have the aforementioned word used in reference to it in the release notes, and so I dutifully listened to it. And it’s good, in an extremely chilled out way, with very endearing atmospheres, nice ambiences and sounds pinned together with washes of guitar.
I do feel however that there is a certain lack of development present in these tunes. There are a lot of unchanging drum loops and once the initial theme is set, often reliant on a slowly cycling atmosphere, not a lot happens. “Whistleblower” is a prime example of this, but in truth most of the album suffers a little. The guitar playing is central to this music, but it tends to be very sunk back in the mix and swathed in effects, which turns it into another element of the general atmosphere. Maybe this is the intention—I’m sure it is—but it does leave one with a distinct lack of anything to focus on over what are sometimes fairly long tracks. The trouble is, this album sounds very nice, but there is nothing in there which really draws any emotion. I want to be moved in some way, whether it be a melancholy chord progression or melody, or a feeling of anger being vented by the artist, anything really that gives the music some identity. Sometimes something as simple as a well made drum track will be enough, but I just don’t get that with these tracks. As I said, they are all very smooth tracks, there is nothing wrong with any of them, but they feel underdeveloped.
It doesn’t seem very fair to be so negative about someone’s work, especially when it really isn’t bad at all. I actually think this will appeal to a lot of people, it’s very pleasing to listen to in a washy kind of way. Certainly anyone who liked any of Northerner’s previous releases will almost certainly enjoy this too. It’s all about personal taste though isn’t it? I can’t pretend this does it for me, but maybe I’m the wrong person to ask.
I Am On Your Side is available on Home Assembly.
