steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

review
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info opinion

Zelienople

"Pajama Avenue" CD

Loose Thread Recordings

Genres: slowcore, dream pop, shoegazer

Loose Thread
PO Box 220180
Chicago, IL 60622

Oct 7 - 13 2002

Sitting alone in a dark tunnel, you're beginning to feel somewhat disturbed. Why you're here - how you ended up in this pitch black orifice - isn't quite clear to you right now. You want to get out, but for some reason you know you shouldn't. You're warm inside. You're cozy. Underneath all the darkness and the hot, mysterious liquid submerging your feet, there's something extraordinarily comfortable about this place.

Slowly a dim light comes on and this beautiful, dreamy music starts playing. You hear the gentle percussion, the moody, shifting synthesizers, the post-rocky guitars, those smooth, hushed vocals... Suddenly this dark tunnel becomes your own little corner of the world. A place where you can relax, a place where you can meditate, a place where you can listen to the music and just let your soul ooze out your ears and float above your head. You no longer want to leave. Everything is perfect.

And then it all ends. And you're feeling let down. You were in you're moment there, YOU'RE MOMENT, and nine songs later, it's all over! But that's alright, because you have it on CD, and - guess what? - you can play it all again.
That CD is Zelienople's Pajama Avenue, and while it isn't exactly the brilliant geniuswork that I built it up to be there, it is definitely one of the most relaxing releases that has come out this year. Influenced by everyone from Low and L'altra to Tortoise and Can, Pajama is a wonderful work of post-rocked slowcore. Everything clicks perfectly and works wonderfully as a whole - an atmospheric tapestry of sounds weaved together by vocals and strings of clarinet.

Altogether, Pajama Avenue is that wonderful slowcore album that works well if you're willing to just lie back in the dark and let the music carry you away. If you take a more superficial approach to music, however, you may want to stick to a more pop-based album.

87%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 8 tracks; distributed by the label; released 2002]