Arms and Sleepers - The Organ Hearts (2011) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, Post-rock, Trip-hop
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Tracklist :

01. Kepesh
02. Tusk
03. I Sing The Body Electric
04. The Afternoon Child
05. A Smile In Sofia
06. Antwerp
07. Serie Noire
08. Reprise
09. Yesterday's Child
10. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
11. Atelier
12. Airport Blues

The Organ Hearts is the 3rd full-length album by Arms and Sleepers, following up on the recently released mini-album Nostalgia For The Absolute and the first single, Tusk (featuring a remix by Helios). Written and recorded throughout 2010 and early 2011, The Organ Hearts finds Max Lewis and Mirza Ramic collaborating once again with Ben Shepard (of Uzi & Ari) and Philip Jamieson (of Caspian).

Unlike Matador, the band's sophomore effort, the new record features significantly less guitar and focuses more on electronics and drum-heavy compositions. Pulsing beats and driving synths replace the lush glockenspiels and melodicas of the previous album, while concise song structures and haunting melodies remain. Like Matador, the new record is intense, filled with varying textures and intricate layers, and unafraid to free itself of any genre constraints. The execution feels natural, showcasing the band's musical maturity developed over the past four years, 14 releases, and extensive touring.

The Organ Hearts is divided into three sections, much like the band's debut full-length album, Black Paris 86. Each part acts as a soundtrack for the ever changing daily and seasonal frames of mind, a cinematic reflection of our complex feelings and delicate emotions. In the end, the journey through the record embodies the opposing forces of our actual lives: excitement vs. anguish, clarity vs. confusion, satisfaction vs. longing. Acting collectively through the three sections, these 12 individual compositions paint an arresting picture encapsulating our life's variation and unbearable tenderness, but also evoking a sense of hopefulness that might be waiting around the corner. Nothing is certain, but not everything is lost. The album's poetic subtitle, then, seems to be quite appropriate: The Things That Make Me Feel Weak And Strange Get Engineered Away.