Ballads Of The Research Department

Ambient
Intimate, drop-dead beautiful adventures in sound from this experimental U.K. group. Here, The Boats have managed to create an album whose parts explore ambient and post-rock terrain but add up to a whole that sounds unlike anything else. Play anything. 1, 2 come especially recommended. No FCCs detected.

1. *(10:15)—Water sounds and grainy, swirling drones with manipulated vinyl noise. Droning choir and plucked strings (harp?). Halfway in, slowly played piano and cello emerge, eventually followed by chimes and deep electronics. A hushed rhythm enters the mix and drives the song to its conclusion.
2. *(11:42)—Soft, slow, reverb-laden guitar leads into a gentle shoegaze/slowcore song with difficult to discern vocals. The song dwindles into ambiance filled with found sounds, piano, and faint electronics. At -4:30, vocals make a comeback, accompanied by cello and minimal percussion.
3. (12:55)—Drones, piano, and strings, eventually joined by minimal drums. Halfway through, the song jumps to cheap electronic sounds for a minute before switching back to the string-led sound of the first half.
4. (11:35)—For the first four minutes, various soundscapes envelop hushed female vocals. Then everything drops away in favor of aching, melancholy strings and an unobtrusive electronic beat. Near the end, ghostly vocals and electronics come to the forefront.