Review Summary: Delightfully flawed.
Au. “Aw”? “Oh”? “Ay-you”? Should I even have to be doing this? Whatever happened to the days when bands had easily pronounceable names like “The Beatles,” or “Nirvana,” or even “Metallica”? Now all we have are these “hip” bands running around with two-letter names and making confusingly spontaneous songs built off noodling guitars and tribal drums. Thankfully, Au’s music is much more easily likable than its name, and with their self-titled album, they have crafted a wonderfully free-spirited release that anyone interested in the freak-folk movement will warm to.
Throughout the record, the band’s impulsive nature shines through. The second and best song on the record, “Sum,” is a perfect example: the song starts with a breathtakingly intense cacophony of strumming guitars and rattling percussion, which then abruptly stops. The silence then gives way to an exotic and playful guitar line, which also suddenly stops. Once the third section comes in and a soft voice starts cooing lines like “we rest on each other,” you know the song is here to stay. The song builds into an exciting and playful climax and stays there for two minutes before the song reaches its last note and leaves you feeling ecstatic and wanting more.
And, in that respect,
Au delivers: closer “Ask the River” features more impromptu guitar strums and jangling percussion, as does seventh track “Life” (albeit both with somewhat smaller success than “Sum”). Everything seems ad-libbed here, like the results of random but inspired jam sessions between friends. In some cases, the songs are best at their least random: opener “Boute” works fantastically with just a repeating piano line and minimalist tapping as percussion. Mixed with airy vocal harmonies, the band produces one of the strongest songs on the album.
If only Au could restrain themselves as they do on “Boute,” the album could be a near-flawless, sophisticated yet frolicsome journey. Instead, they choose to sometimes lose themselves in random musical puddles of guitar and percussion, as they do on “Remain”. The track meanders aimlessly, yet somewhat engagingly, as the band try out cacophonous guitar lines along with arrhythmic percussion structures. The formula works for a while, but doesn’t quite justify the three-and-a-half minute song length.
However, most of the tracks on the album show a little restraint, and most of these are the best tracks. “Death” is an uncharacteristically dark song for Au, but it is also one of the most successful. The track is almost jazzy musically, with the vocalist lazily singing “Bring me my death, bring me my shadow.”
The album has weaknesses, but, in a way, it’s better that way: the album is like a superbly entertaining, slightly crazy friend who you can visit over and over again. The music of Au is as modern and spontaneous as its name, but its flashes of brilliance make the album more than worthwhile. Although
Au is an album very few will hear, anyone who hears it will almost certainly find some kind of delight in it.
