[.ca] V1 Low Level Owl

Wonderful disc:
This is such a great cd. It is just a perfect cd to just sprawl on the couch and zone out too. The progression from one to another is perfect and the whole cd fits together like butter. The music overkills the lyrics but it makes sense after a few listens. Overall a great cd for any music lover.

Their best album:
And one of the best modern rock albums of the past 10 years. This album is more ethereal, angelic than their previous albums, and this plays to Appleseed Cast's strengths, which is the interplay between the vocal line(s) and the guitars' high tone arpeggios. A good example of the band's instrumental chemistry, quite literally, considering the # of instrumentals on the album. I think this approach--dropping in instrumentals every couple of tracks (Birds of Paradise probably being my favorite)--helped to focus the band's musicianship of the album. No, it's not Johann Sebastian Bach, but it doesn't have to be, it's rock music. The songs seem continuous and connected, yet there is a surprising amount of deviation amongst the songs. It is an *album*, yet individual songs like On Reflection, Sentence, and Blind Man's Arrow do stake out their own territory. On Reflection, the first "song", can only be described as the first "ambient", "shoe gazer" epic, and that is followed by Blind man's Arrow, a dark change of pace that is, guitar-opening wise, almost Rush-esque w/ a minor intonation. Mile Marker is also a sweet song w/ an addictive guitar riff. Why music like this can't find radio popularity while garbage like Limp Bizkit is shoved in our faces every two nanoseconds is beyond me. Buy these two LLO albums. DO IT NOW.

Mellow, Not Boring.:
An ecclectic mix of ambient sounds, thoughtful melodies and droning guitars this album has it all. While each track is individually strong the album listened to as a whole is both genious and highly enjoyable.

Making up for all the 5 star reviews:
Okay, so I'm probably treading on dangerous ground here, as anyone is when they begin to critique a cult classic. I have to say that Low Level Owl, while a great ambient album of chill-out music and special effects is quite a pretentious feat. I fully understand that this album was meant to be experimental, and kudos to the Cast for their effort. But what we have here is 53 minutes of ambient repetition. If there is a common ambient theme running from beginning to end, I have missed it. Please, don't get me wrong; I think this album probably deserves more like four stars for the effort, but the plethora of 5 star reviews just struck me as a bit off. The album is fun to listen to on headphones for studio magic, but overall the songs and the instrumental tracks just start sounding the same. Low Level Owl is to be experienced in the vein of Dark Side of the Moon, but it is a bit musically dry, especially when you really sit down and listen to Two Conversations (which is the marriage of LLO ambience and musical structure). Good album. Not 5 star material.

Like a dream:
I walked into the local music store and browsed through the indie music section, all the while hearing mellow music streaming from the house speakers. I liked it. I browsed around some more and eventually decided I could not leave without whatever album was playing. It was The Appleseed Cast's "Low Level Owl Vol 1." I walked away with Vol 1 and 2 and The Gloria Record's "Start Here." I haven't yet gotten to Gloria Record. LLO hasn't left my player. I like to spend a lot of time with a new album to get the full effect. LLO is mellow but it keeps your attention. It is ambient but has plenty of structure. The music is intellegent. The vocals are in the background which serves the music well. In the liner notes TAC say they spent hours thinking about each aspect of the music, and the listener can tell. I can't compare this album to any other TAC albums becasue I don't own any, but I have heard that LLO was an "experiment" for them. I believe their experiment was a success. If you like Mogwai, Godspeed you Black Emporer or Tortoise check out this album.

• Walking of Pertelotte
• On Reflection
• Blind Man's Arrow
• Flowers Falling from Dying Hands
• Messenger
• Doors Lead to Questions
• Steps and Numbers
• Sentence
• Bird of Paradise
• Mile Marker
• Convict
• Tree for Trails
• Signal
• View of a Burning City