Los Angeles by Linear Bells

"LOS ANGELES" is also available at BAH DOOM RECORDINGS (manchester UK) bah001 http://bahdoom.com/

Los Angeles is irregularly shaped and covers a total area of 502.7 square miles (1,302 km2), comprising 468.7 square miles (1,214 km2) of land and 34.0 square miles (88 km2) of water.[4] The city extends for 44 miles (71 km) longitudinally and for 29 miles (47 km) latitudinally. The perimeter of the city is 342 miles (550 km).

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Linear Bells are certainly not a music act from Southern California but, instead, are based somewhere in France. They/He/She/Whoever functions under the enigmatic and trend grabbing pseudonym from which they create some serviceable ambient music that evoke specific places and experiences. Their latest effort, released a little over a month ago, is a slow driving five track EP entitled Los Angeles, which interprets the city by way of various unnamed roads they have made soundtracks for.

The songs are a mix of using proper instruments–piano, guitar, etc.–combined with “sound manipulations” and other droning electronic sounds that bring a calm sophistication to their releases. “Los Angeles is irregularly shaped and covers a total area of 502.7 square miles (1,302 km2), comprising 468.7 square miles (1,214 km2) of land and 34.0 square miles (88 km2) of water,” the band clinically describes, serving as the only explanation for the album. The songs–with titles like “ROAD_START” and “ROAD_N3″–are basically soundtracks for driving, evoking different feelings and pinpointing very specific moods associated with certain drives in town. A song like “ROAD_START” gives that feeling of being on a foggy drive through the hills in Malibu heading to the ocean, a drive that is simultaneously frightening as it is exciting. “ROAD_N4″ feels like that moment coming South on the 101 or when you’re at the super tall merge from the 105 East to the 110 North, where you overlook the entire city: the track captures the twinkling lights of cars, buildings, planes, and everything else abuzz in Los Angeles.

Of course, this is just speculation and all the roads that served as inspiration could be blocks Downtown or in Simi Valley. Regardless, Linear Bells’ observation of Los Angeles through their ambient sounds is a great exploration of something so Los Angeles shared in such a thoughtful, conceptual fashion it has to be recognized.

LOS ANGELES I'M YOURS.

What’s weird about Linear Bells is how Post-Rock it sounds. The spirits of Explosions in the Sky appear to be in full force here. I can’t quite explain how that is. Perhaps it is how the sounds are used, as a way of creating tension more than any outright distinguishable, hummable melody. I feel this may be considered drone in its slow build but I think it is something a bit deeper than that. Linear Bells clearly has quite a ‘rock’ feel to me. This probably explains the interest in a shoegaze sound and the gauzy sound in general.

BEACH SLOTH.

"Linear bells is a fusion of ambient, neoclassical piano, experimental music.
The album begins with a title "Road_START" full of ambient soundscapes, the second contains beautiful arpeggios of piano inviting to the journey through our life as well as shoegaze guitars .
The third title is always progressive with notes of keyboards and drone atmosphere .The fourth is a neoclassical gem and creates a certain minimalism with beautiful piano arpeggios and some electro atmosphere in the background.
We arrive at the end of the album, delighted of this trip through different styles full of sensibility and harmony and oniric.The ambiances are sometimes divinely melancholic and experimental."

BLOG VIVAT1801.

Los Angeles shuttles between two ingredients all the time: it's driven by gloomy synth pads that are tied to the feeling of the 80's, and on top of that, there's a cinematic quality which is realized with the help of catchy piano melodies and even violins. The compositions are relatively short, and the correlation between cover artwork, album title and music isn't always obvious, but the music itself is the only important thing of course, and if you're a fan of that 80's synth feeling, you'll be definitely up for Linear Bells' debut EP; even the piano notes transport that feeling of analog lo-fi equipment to the ears of the modern listener. Teboul has an ear for melodies and it will be interesting for me to see whether his minimal approach is reserved solely for this EP or if he will re-utilize this particular sound for future projects.

AMBIENT EXOTICA.

/Art-pop, Shoegaze, Experimental indie, Electronic pop, Post-pop, Lo-fi, DIY/

Comment: Linear Bells is a project from California whose album Los Angeles is made up of a little angular synth buzzes or synthetic bugs and bits and resonating drone flickering. However, if to trying to generalize it more profoundly, it can be seen for staying at the crossroads of shoegaze, post-rock, glo-fi, and DIY aesthetics. Furthermore, it used to be rather by the side of glowering and murky territory than on the side of blissful approach.

RECENT MUSIC HEROES.

Linear Bells is a composer and sound artist.
His music is a mix between sound manipulations, field recordings, mainly created with acoustic and analogic instruments. LB.

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