Mabou - Our Last Sleep Is Our Final Awakening

You're Like Lights in December
Your World and All That Is in It

Skean Dhu
2006


Steve Copley of Mabou is my colleague at Stylus, which disqualifies this plug from being an objective review. However, I'm happy to share my honest opinion of Our Last Sleep Is Our Final Awakening. It's a fine shoegazer album, one that grows on me with each listen.

What appeals to me is its homegrown quality. It doesn't hit you over the head with the "We are so shoegazer, remember 1991, remember?" vibe I've heard in some retro-minded projects. I like how the production is a little rough around the edges. One guy on guitars, one guy on percussion and programming, feed through effects and sequencing, and that's it. Loveless cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to make, and it doesn't sound much better.

On one hand, the album is generally pretty easygoing. The grooves are loose, the drums sound nicely natural, and the chord progressions are standard for pop music. No vocals here, except for perhaps some that have been highly processed into textures.

On the other hand, it hits some gnarly peaks, with guitar tones that rival the buzzing-est of black metal. This album's like life - it ebbs and flows, with some nasty headaches thrown in. Some of the uglier (in a good way) tones remind me of the vastly underrated Medicine.

"You're Like Lights in December" opens with a very Mancunian bass line. It goes into a I-V-IV with a nice contrast between sharped and flatted thirds; the highlight, though is a sudden patch of beautiful clean tones before distortion comes swarming back. "Your World and All That Is in It" does likewise, unexpectedly darkening in the middle with an MBV-esque bass groove. Heresy perhaps, but while I love Loveless, I've already listened to this album more.

You can find Our Last Sleep at Amazon and other online retailers.