Caspian

Kyle's last post about Owen and describing it as a good cd to put on while "cleaning your room" got me thinking about ambient/background music. While not a genre I listen to routinely, there are times where it fits the mood, and one of the cds I like to use on such occasions is "The Four Trees" by Massachusetts based Caspian. Their sound is a an ambient rock style which has heavier parts but tends to stay on the space rock side that is slower and drawn out. Oh and they're an instrumental group as well.

I'm not usually a huge fan of rock "instrumental" groups just as the genre itself doesn't seem to be musically interesting enough by itself to remove the lyrical aspect. Caspian is a nice exception, and I think part of this is that they don't try to overcompensate by becoming too experimental musically that the sound loses focus like other "post rock" groups. To be honest I think they aren't as experimental as they would like you think they are, but perhaps that's why I like their sound in a genre I don't normally listen to.

The music itself is good, and they do a nice job of incorporating different aspects and dynamics to their songs to add depth that isn't there from the lyrics. Because their style is very ambient and flows together nicely, I don't even really know what my favorite songs would be. I just tend to put it on and let it play. So instead of trying to pick any certain ones out and describe them, I'll just post a few random ones and let you decide.

Caspian - Crawlspace

Caspian - ASA

Caspian - Book Nine


- Alec