1997, Music

Mi media naranja (1997) by Labradford

This is my first Labradford record and so I have no idea how it compares to their earlier or later work. I hear their earlier work was more electronic, but I have no idea.

This is on the extremely slow end of post rock the point where it is classified as “ambient” despite being played by a rock band. Imagine a slowed down Dirty Three with keyboards and programming instead of the violin, and with less drums – I think these are programmed based on the lack of a credited drummer – and you kind of, sort of, get an idea of what this sounds like, only Dirty Three are much louder too. The music actually isn’t always slow but, because it is so spacey and sparse, it often gives the appearance of slowness even though the tempo does pick up at times.

This is so much on the quite/soft/slow side of post rock, in fact, that I have a little bit of trouble with it. This is normally a genre I love, but this is extreme music, not in volume, but in restraint. Like most ambient music, it is more suited to background music than it is concentration. (That’s not to say it is unrewarding when you concentrate, just that 40 minutes of this is a lot to keep your attention.)

But I’m curious about this band. I’ve never heard them before and this feels like an unexplored area of post rock for me, some weird place where Brian Eno and Godspeed You! Black Emperor (or, perhaps, Do Make Say Think) don’t quite meet.

7/10

All lyrics written by Mark Nelson; all music composed by Labradford.

  1. “S” 6:19
  2. “G” 4:00
  3. “WR” 5:50
  4. “C” 6:23
  5. “I” 4:59
  6. “V” 6:24
  7. “P” 9:18

Labradford

  • Carter Brown – keyboards
  • Robert Donne – bass guitar
  • Mark Nelson – vocals, guitar

Additional musicians

  • Chris Johnston – violin
  • Ulysses Kirksey – violin

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