For this band to adopt the name Landing seems like a dash of irony.There is nothing grounded about this band, nothing the least bitindicative that they are or are about to touch the Earth and accept therules and mechanics that govern it. Their sound is one of the sublime,the surreal, more akin to the forces that invisibly hold things aloftand floating than the submission to gravity. "Fluency of Colors"initiates the album's upward motion, each note slipping over anotherand flickering darkly like a dying bulb burning after images intomemory. The music envelops, and what at first seems so delicate andvaporous begins to obscure everything else. Sphereis an album of meditation, of contemplative thought, using thehypnotic, patient bloom of the band's music to instigate a sense ofcalm and focus. Along the course of the album, there are threeinstrumental interludes, each titled "Gravitational." These interludesare the moment of greatest upheaval and dissonance on the album, pointswhere the urge to escape the pull results in stress and tension. Thethree pieces gradually build from the chilly wind-scape of the first tothe creaking buzz of the third. These pieces serve as weights orcounterpoints to the soaring jags the compromise the proper songs."Solstice" shimmers brightly while a stinging updraft of guitar searsthrough the temperate atmosphere. The intensity of the guitar's ascentis almost jarring in contrast to the lightness of the back drop,however the contrast heightens the perception of each elementindividually until ultimately they coalesce together perfectly. Thevery titles of the songs hint at a connection with perception,connection with the sights, sounds, and smells of the world around you.This thread of connection stretches itself between each song and bindstogether the album's experience, linking it to a greater application ofsense and feeling. Sphere would make an excellent album for sinking into thought, escaping the white noise of the mind. Read More
