Posted on: April 12, 2010 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Hi-Fi Sky – Music For Synchronized Swimming / 2005 Seersucker Fantasy / 12 Tracks / http://www.hi-fisky.com / http://www.voobrew.com / Reviewed 10 May 2005

The ambient sound of Hi-Fi Sky takes some getting used to; each of the tracks on “Music For Synchronized Swimming” tends to play around a lot with the patience of the band’s listeners. If one is impatient, they will miss out completely on what is an even-handed and well-constructed type of music. The light vocals of Alexandra provides a perfect intensifier for the Spartanly-arranged cellos on tracks like “Ma Blonde Est Partie”. What is a clear victory for Hi-Fi Sky is the fact that Alexandra can sing in French and still be able to convey the emotion through eir voice. No French lessons necessary, as Alexandra and the rest of the band are able to bring emotion to some sort of primeval state, a state in which all individuals can go and take some meaning without much context. The richer sound that starts off “Hemisphere” provides a sense of brooding to what is in all actually a fairly light track, one that is as domicile and kind as any anthropomorphized creature in a Disney flick.

What the tracks on “Music For Synchronized Swimming” need (for the most part) some electronic presence, Hi-Fi Sky still maintains a down-home, quaint nature to them even as synthesizer tendrils draw themselves warmly around the organic kernel of the track. The ability of Hi-Fi Sky to continually change up their sound enough to keep listeners in the game for an average of about six minutes a track is a rare one; most bands necessarily resort to some repetition as filler before a great lead-up. This is aboriginal (not “a primitive race” but rather ab/from original/roots) drone – even if the band does not fill tracks with all sorts of extra noise, a spirit is present throughout this disc. It can be heard at the lowest registers of “That Bird”, just as it can be noticed during the ghastly vocals of “Belle Louisiane”.

Simply put, Hi-Fi Sky has put out a disc that brings the listeners into swaddling and warm chests; nothing is lacking as each string plucked provides a vital step to the disc’s inevitable end. The tracks will likely not fly on the average alternative radio station, but the exhilaration felt, the dramatic tension present on a track like “2 Step” is a sound to be heard. The odd-backward masking (possibly also rendered in a foreign language) vocals of “Solar” provide an interesting stopping point, a slight derivation from the formula of this disc and a possible jump off for the next album.

Top Tracks: Solar, Ma Blonde Est Partie

Rating: 7.1/10

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