Search - Cul De Sac :: Death of the Sun

Junkmedia Review - Refreshing

junkmedia | Los Angeles, CA | 02/21/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In Cul de Sac's decade of existence, the group has avoided genre-specific definition. I have a hard time defining them as "experimental", as there doesn't seem to be any science to their music. They simply go out of their way to make curious sounds that sometimes lull, provoke thought and distress, and sometimes leave the listener unsure of what to do other than absorb. Though many consider the four-year span between 1999's Crashes to Light, Minutes to Its Fall and Death of the Sun a hiatus, the extensive CD liner notes by various members of the band tells a different story. The stories speak of a collective with shifting membership struggling to figure out just what they wanted to accomplish with their project, leading to some three years of composing, constructing, tearing down and rebuilding the music with the cold-clean world of digital processing and the organic sounds they've been known for in the past. Though electronic music-making means were incorporated extensively, Death of the Sun slinks and bubbles like no electronic music could. "Dust of Butterflies," the opening track, presents a wonderfully lush groove, with warm voices from an old 78 record laying the foundation for sparse guitar work and a soothing drumbeat. It seems, however, that once Cul de Sac has worked out an idea, it rarely looks back. Later tracks on the CD utilize tribal drum sounds ("Turok, Son of Stone") and muffled eastern-influenced guitars shrouded in an incidental cityscape ("Bellevue Bridge"). It's refreshing to hear a band move from idea to idea so completely instead of merely looking in different directions while holding rigidly to a known foundation. The pieces all seem composed from scratch, as if each one is an entirely separate project. Certainly there are some missteps, such as the sitar-based track, "Bamboo Rockets, Half Lost in Nothingness, Searching for an Inch of Sky," which, along with its long-winded title, seems to be yearning too much for some kind of contrived "mysticism" that doesn't come through. The final track, "I Remember Nothing More," treads the line of over-sentimentality with its scratchy sample of an old singer coupled with overproduced, New Age guitar. But this is bound to happen when a group attempts as much as Cul de Sac does. If it takes another four years for the next Cul de Sac record to come out, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait. While some music thrives on spontaneity and sudden energy, Cul de Sac has made an art of attention to detail. Martin Pavlinic
February 20, 2003
Junkmedia Review"