PARALLEL LIONS – HOLDING PATTERNS

A long silence preceded the release of this, Ollie Brown’s eagerly awaited solo project since the disbanding of his seminal band of atmospherists Art of Fighting. That band traversed a broad musical plane – often times opening sets and records with extended slow-burning epic jams, fractured by Brown’s angelic voice and post-war romantic songwriting. Here the timbre and pace are a little different – Taste of Your Heart lulls us into the familiar guitar-scapes and some warm synth passages, before flowering into an expansive and driving anthem, the gateway to a highly textured and very pretty pop album. Hamish Michael brings a lot of the texture to the band – offsetting Brown’s telecaster-laden guitar stacks with oodles of electronic detail, and Sam Bates’ drumming is sensitive with an underlying urgency of rhythm. There is a lot to be said for an album that takes its time to develop, and this one certainly culminates its strengths song by song;  reaching its apex at the simply sublime Living on the Edges of The World, this is an album that just seems to feel right, never outstaying its welcome.

***1/2