The Legendary Pink Dots – The Museum Of Human Happiness (Album – Metropolis Records)
Genre/Influences: Cinematic, Experimental, Minimal.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: More than 40 years of involvement, The Legendary Pink Dots are back on track unleashing their newest opus, which was written and achieved during the lockdown, the members living in different countries.
Content: The Legendary Pink Dots invite the listeners to embark for a sonic journey taking off with a refreshing debut song with a cool chorus. We next will go through dreamy ballads, Cinematic impressions, and pure Experimental/Minimal works. Vintage Electro sounds, relaxing guitar play, deep bass parts and the unique voice of Edward Ka-Spel are now creating a pure relaxing effect and inviting us to taste a sweet smell of melancholia.
+ + + : The album remains in the purest tradition of this legendary formation. The songs are diversified and yet always related. This band remains a unique experience in sound driven by an even more unique lead singer and his particular timbre of voice. I like the debut song for its refreshing effect but there are more songs to mention. I like “Cloudsurfer” for its minimalism, “Coronation Street” for its brilliant vintage sound treatments and “The Girl Who Got Their First” for its evasive feeling.
– – – : There’s always an Experimental touch hanging over the work of the ‘dots’ which never has been my favorite aspect of their work.
Conclusion: Even after 40 years of involvement and an endless discography, The Legendary Pink Dots still have this creative sense to achieve brilliant work.
Best songs: “This Is The Museum”,“Cloudsurfer”, “Coronation Street”, “The Girl Who Got Their First”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.thelegendarypinkdots.org / www.facebook.com/legendarypinkdots
Label: www.metropolis-records.com / www.facebook.com/MetropolisRecords Read the news on ‘The Museum Of Human Happiness’.
About The Legendary Pink Dots
The band formed in London in August 1980, first under the name One Day…, and relocated to Amsterdam in 1984. Singer, songwriter and keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight held the group together while other musicians rotated around them. Early records came out on Mirrordot and InPhaze; in 1985 the band signed to Play It Again Sam for “The Lovers”.
The line-up settled by 1988, when Niels van Hoornblower on horns and Bob Pistoor on guitar joined for the US tour. After Pistoor died of cancer, Martijn de Kleer took his place, with Ryan Moore on drums in the studio and live. Erik Drost replaced de Kleer on guitar in 2004, the year of “The Whispering Wall”. The group has released more than forty albums, drawing on neo-psychedelia, ambient, tape music, psychedelic folk, synthpop, post-punk, jazz, noise and goth rock. Ka-Spel also runs The Tear Garden with cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy, who played drums on parts of the 1994 album “9 Lives to Wonder”.
Phil Knight stopped touring in 2022 and Randall Frazier of Orbit Service and A Star Too Far took over synths, samples and electronics. As of that year the band lists Ka-Spel, Frazier, Drost and Joep Hendrikx on live electronics. “The Museum Of Human Happiness”, written and finished during lockdown with the members in different countries, was issued by Metropolis Records in March 2022, with the vinyl edition following in June.
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