1986, Music

Forever Breathes the Lonely World (1986) by Felt

Jangle pop with a post punk aesthetic. It made more sense to me when it was earlier in the 1980s. (I guess I mean that it made more sense when it was earlier in their career.)

So I guess the songs are okay, as far as ’80s jangle pop songs go. I honestly can’t remember any of them well enough at this moment to single any out but I do feel like they were good enough. Certainly any quibbles I have with the album are not about specific songs.

When I first heard Felt, on an earlier album in their career, I thought their innovation was kind of novel and interesting – embracing jangle pop (which I believe was mostly an American thing when Felt started doing it) but adding the broodiness of UK post punk in the aesthetic and especially in Lawrence’s delivery. But, I gotta say, I don’t find that as appealing now. They were pretty prolific, as this is their sixth album in five years and, shockingly, their fourth in 2 ish years. Something about the prolificness made me think this was later into their career than it was. So I think I might be a bit unfair asking them to have changed their aesthetic in such a brief period of time. But I don’t really know why they were cranking out so many albums in the mid ’80s. (I suspect there are consistency issues.)

I will say that I still feel like that organ makes them stand out. Few American jangle pop bands liked keyboards at least at first and I can’t tell you if it was a common British thing. But, at least in the post punk world, Hammond organs were not very cool. Good on them for standing out.

But I’ve just heard way too much music that’s similar enough to this for me to care any more when it’s not exceptional. And this doesn’t strike me as particularly exceptional.

6/10

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