Eyemouth - Black and Blue Latitudes

Eyemouth

Black and Blue Latitudes
self-released; 2015

4.0 out of 5

By J Simpson

20th Century music, it seems, was intent on breaking down rules and regulations, as any kind of cohesive cultural narrative atomized into a postmodern nuclear meltdown. It was all about hyper-specialized niches and genres, each of which attracted their own following, developing their own cultural mores and aesthetic rules, which had to be followed to the letter or else be shunned. What resulted was a kind of music in breeding that tended to emphasize the generic trappings of a genre, both its strengths and weaknesses.

Here, now, 15 years into the 21st Century, it seems this motion is being reversed with many musical tributaries flowing together, coming back into a kind of inclusivity that, while bad for the purists, is good news for the music and for the intended reach.

On Black And Blue Latitudes, Gothenburg, Sweden's Eyemouth bring together elements of post-rock, electronica, folk and goth, to stunning effect, in an attempt to approximate the ground we walk on with its various strata of meaning.

For anyone that follows any of those genres, this is great news, worthy of heralding to the skies, as each style has succumbed to almost a form of self-parody in their purest forms. Electronic music becomes generic club anthems. Post rock being bloated and pompous bands with long names following the same template Mogwai mastered before the turn of the century, and goth, well... goth can get pretty cheesy, with its mock witchy ceremonial vocals.

Eyemouth takes the best parts of each and sculpts a truly exceptional document, the first of four EPs, all meant to portray the sound of soil, nature, and the Earth, using a unique blend of folk instruments, such as accordion and atmospheric psychedelic rock instrumentation with some electronic flourishes, like echo and delay, which gives the feeling of distance and reverie.

All in all, Black And Blue Latitudes is the sound of exploring some idyllic, unknown forest glade, digging through the underbrush, looking for treasures, exploring the microfauna.

This is so much more interesting that the generic production music of "Drum And Bass @ 135 bpm" that makes up mainstream electronic music. And major bonus points for revitalizing goth rock, a style that has not been at its peak since the early ‘80s.

Magical stuff. Take a trip!

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