30-music review of "Someone Else's Déjà Vu"

Son, Ambulance
"Someone Else's Déjà Vu" (CD)

released in 2008
Label: Saddle Creek
http://www.myspace.com/sonambulance

Son, Ambulance's upcoming July 8th release, Someone Else's Déjà Vu, proves there's more than just clever wording to an album title. The 13-track album conveys a curious sense of experiencing it all before, the entirely of it appearing to be a journey through the worries and fantasies of a restless mind. Whether representative of a deep, complex dream or some fitful hallucination, the band's extensive use of musical ambience draws you deep into their world.

This immersion begins as the album opens to a variety of animal sounds, then quickly sweeps into the whimsical samba beat of "A Girl in New York City". Despite the quick tempo of the opening track, the majority of the album's middle assumes the more gradual pace of a steady saunter, mirroring the relaxed nature of a peaceful dream. The band handles these songs with exceptional finesse, creating an intricate musical texture composed of many separate voices that play off one another without ever becoming obtrusive in respect to the overall sound. Long, soaring chords provide perfect support for multiple melody lines, which, amidst their curious interactions, seem to wander, exploring the atmosphere the chords develop. The end result is a pleasant, unique sound that's not at all afraid to take its time and dwell on a thought for a bit. Nor should it be; Son, Ambulance presents it in so capably that even "Yesterday Morning", which lasts seven minutes at its serene pace, never loses interest. This album's chief merit is that it recognizes the value of truly developing a sound and lingering on it for longer than your typical three and a half minutes.

The album takes a refreshing change of pace at a short track simply entitled "and", composed of distorted noise and a thumping pulse that carries through to fade-out. After this point, the dream picks up pace with "Juliet's Son", the narrator's pleading effort to change a friend's behavior which turns just optimistic enough in the end for the narrator to repeatedly muse, "Maybe you won't die young." The momentum carries through the next three songs as well, finally slowing down again at the closing track, "Requiem for a Planet", where the atmospheric sound grows to its peak. Vocals and rhythm instruments alike echo into the distance over the dense, airy-sounding chords underneath. Ultimately the texture thins to a single instrumental line, and the dream comes to a quiet close.

The strength of Someone Else's Déjà Vu comes from its variety. Whether floating along or driving forward, entirely clean or thoroughly distorted, the sound assumes a new and fitting character for each song. Where the album might be lost with some listeners, however, is with its nearly ever-present musical ambience. Those who don't appreciate the styling will likely lose interest in the album early on. But such is the new, unique sound of Son, Ambulance. Although it bears slight resemblance to their previous Key and Euphemystic albums, their engrossing third release is anything but déjà vu.

Review written on 2008/06/11 by Kevin Coss