Review Summary: A perfect blend of trip-hop atmosphere and sounds, combined with poppy hooks and the beautiful vocals of Jael.
Lunik were one of those bands that went through a slow musical change over the course of their career. They started out as a trip-hop group with slight pop influences, and an above average female vocalist by the name of Jael. As time went on, they began integrating more of their pop influences and phasing out the electronics, placing the emphasis more-and-more on their talented vocalist.
Weather is the album that bridges the gap between Lunik’s trip-hop past and indie pop future, and it also stands as their best release to date.
Weather starts with a song that leans on its trip-hop roots while placing the vocals front-and-center, and is representative of a little more than half of the songs on the album. The songs still holding onto the past, such as the opening track, contain laid-back beats, soft repetitive bass lines, unobtrusive acoustic guitars, subtle electronics and the beautiful vocals of Jael. The vocals themselves are just as chill as the music, just playfully and delicately interacting with it during the verses, and taking the lead with catchy choruses when it’s time for one. One of the best ways to describe these songs is to have you think of
Sarah Mclachlan’s slower songs, but with more electronics and a nice mellow beat behind it. The atmosphere of these songs is generally sad or at least melancholy, but not to the point where you have to be in a certain mood to listen to them.
The second track represents the direction Lunik have been experimenting with since the second album, and is also representative of the other half of the album. These songs contain acoustic guitars too, but they’re the lead instrument instead part of the whole atmosphere, and they’re much more poppy and up-tempo. The rhythms themselves are also much more upbeat and can easily get you moving. These songs also, of course, feature the great vocals of Jael, but her vocals seem to be the featured attraction instead of just part of the whole, especially in the choruses.
For the most part
Weather is able to fluctuate between trip-hop songs and pop songs seamlessly, never allowing you to feel bored or think you’ve already heard a song before, but there is a single flaw on the album. That flaw is a song called "You Won’t Stop Me.” It starts with an obnoxious distorted synth line before breaking into what could only be compared to the female fronted bubblegum rock of the 80’s. If you think of
The Go-Go’s and add a cheesy synth line, then you’ll be in the ballpark. Jael’s vocals aren’t horrible on this song, but they’re not enough to save it, especially when the bubblegum-chorus comes in. In the end, though, it’s only one song and can easily be skipped.
Other than that one song,
Weather is basically flawless. The trip-hop songs are catchy, chill, and very strongly written. When you combine them with the pop-oriented songs, it helps to keep the album from ever becoming too lethargic or redundant. Definitely for fans of
Lene Marlin or
Sarah Mclachlan.
