Fourteen Twentysix - "Lighttown Closure" Review

Artist/ Band: Fourteen Twentysix
Title: Lighttown Closure
Label: All Mine Records
Year of Release: 2010
Offical Artist/ Band Link

The Review:

I was introduced to the music of a band from Eindhoven, Netherlands called Fourteen Twentysix (comprised of front man, vocalist and guitarist Chris van der Linden, guitarist Jelle Goosens, Jeroen Dirrix on drums, Martin Jorissen on bass)via Twitter months ago. The band's Bandcamp page featured enough songs to pique my interest, notably their moody, atmospheric Songs to Forget EP.

In a time of autotune divas with glassbreaker voices and growling metal gods, I find that voices like Chris van der Linden's of Fourteen Twentysix stand out without shouting, or sailing to the stratosphere. After listening to debut album Lighttown Closure the first time The album opener "AM" as in 'morning' sets the melancholy tone for the listener, lonely strings with quavering vocals changes to the guarded hopefulness of "After the Storm". The album concludes with the down-tempo, nine-minute "Lashes"; a song that stands out to me because of the beautiful, deep-toned bass notes that Martijn Jorissen deftly provides. There are times when the distorted guitar can be much, but Goosens and van der Linden are no slouches with their instruments; and still after repeated listens I'll say it's not for everyone; but I can still keep listening to Lighttown Closure.

The vocals are still a powerful emotive vehicle for the front man's heavy, sorrowful lyrics that present this DIY album's main theme of loss ("Gone Today"), regret (the moody cello-tinged "Tonight I"), and exodus ("Lashes"). This emotion is driven further by acoustic guitar accented by electric guitar; and the presence of restrained percussion and light touches of glitchy samples.

Reviewed by Vivian Lee on April 7th, 2011

Tracks:

01. AM

02. After the Storm

03. Closing Hours

04. Gone Today

05. Tonight I

06. Signals in the Sky

07. Descending

08. White Paint

09. Lashes