Between Darkness and Wonder [Import]

Between Darkness and Wonder [Import]

Track Listings

1. Darkness

2. Stronger

3. Sugar 5

4. Angelica

5. Till the Clouds Clear

6. Wonder

7. Sun

8. Learn

9. Please

10. Open Up

11. Hearts and Flowers

12. Gabriel

13. Gabriel

14. Heaven [Funkstorung Mix]

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
'Between Darkness & Wonder' is Lamb's fourth studio album & without question their most diverse & captivating yet. The UK edition includes three bonus tracks, 'Gabriel' (MJ Cole Remix, Nellee Hooper Mix) & 'Heaven' (Funkstorung Mix). Mercury. 2003.

Tracks:

Darkness
Stronger
Sugar 5
Angelica
Till The Clouds Clear
Wonder
Sun
Learn
Please
That Thing (Open Up)
Hearts And Flowers

Album Description

'Between Darkness & Wonder' is Lamb's fourth studio album & without question their most diverse & captivating yet. 11 tracks. Mercury. 2003.

Album Details

Lamb's Fourth Studio Album is Without Question Most Certainly the Duo's Most Diverse and Captivating Effort Yet. It is Lush and Dense and Sampled Based. Meshing Harmonies with Angelic Orchestrations and Intimate, Personlized Soundscapes, this Album Will have a Lasting Effect and Should Easily Find Itself under Your Skin.

Customer Reviews:

Pretty "Darkness".......2005-01-11

Smooth melodies and sophisticated trip-hop are the mark of Lamb. Their fourth release "Between Darkness and Wonder" is well-named: it's a combination of the melancholy and the pretty, wrapped up in catchy and/or tranquil pop. It's music to get wistful to.

A haunting opener bursts into shimmery "Darkness" and the poppy "Stronger." Then the album takes a different twist, turning down into melodious trip-hop ("Sugar 5," the bouncy "Sun"), and a stretch of soft, sweet music (the instrumental "Angelica," rainy ballad "Till the Clouds Clear," the sweet violin-led "Learn"). After the thumpy, gritty "Open Up," the album closes with the soft, slow, violin-tinged ballad "Hearts and Flowers."

Despite the more upbeat numbers, the tone of "Between Darkness and Wonder" is mellow and pensive. It's also a bit sad, but in an optimistic way. "And I'm beyond recognition/Gone to some small space in silent stillness/Yet something beats anew," Lou Robinson tells us in her sweet, sometimes velvety vocals. With all those songs about rebirth, skies turning from grey to blue and demons (personal demons?), it straddles between being melancholy and joyful.

Despite the electronica/trip-hop nature of Lamb, the edges of "Between Darkness and Wonder" are classical. "Hearts and Flowers" and "Learn" have violins, "Wonder" has rippling harp, and "Angelica" has piano. It gives a more timeless quality to the smooth, panoramic electronic music. Speaking of which: Andy Barlow does a fantastic job molding the beats, blips and sweeps of sound into some of the best trip-hop out there.

"Between Darkness and Wonder" is a beautiful album by a talented band. Deeply atmospheric and melodic, Lamb's newest release could be easily considered one of the best releases of 2004.

My introduction to lamb.......2004-02-24

I'll admit that this is the first lamb album I've listened to. But I truly love it. Lamb very skillfully molds smooth rhythms and melodies into phenomenal songs. Although this album lacks the level of sophistication that most Massive Attack and Portishead albums have, it's a soothing and extremely pleasant journey. If you're into Chill Out music, this is a definite buy.

more cloying sounds from a newly spit-polished Lamb.......2004-01-15

Let's just say that I miss the upright bass and jazzy sounds of the first two albums. Although "Darkness" is less cloying than the almost vomit-inducing (in my opinion) "What Sound," it is only a baby step away...
The first and third tracks caught my ear, but by "Angelica", (which is merely one phrase of a Debussy piano piece set to a beat and repeated over... and over....), my attention was drifting. I have no idea what happened, but this is not the same Lamb that produced one of my favorite songs of all time, the soaring, epic, "Gorecki," but a once-interesting and innovative group pushing for popular, Dido-sized and -shaped success. My advice: bring back the wooden bass, Lamb! I'm begging you! And for all you peops interested in this band, pick up Lamb's first 2 albums. They are guaranteed to please!

too much lamb, not enough wolf.......2003-12-31

Maybe it should be only three stars, not four. Undoubtedly, there are some gorgeous tunes on this album. "Angelica" and "Wonder" are superlative, for instance. However, whether this is progress for the duo, as has been suggested, is a trickier proposition. With their first two albums, conjuring a mood out of a variety of dark types of music, among them drum-and-bass, trip hop, and acid jazz, Lamb created a perfectly original sound: trademark vocals over very sparse core composed primarily of powerful and inventive beats, a prominent upright bass, and strident wind instruments. The band occupied its own musical space. Beginning with "What Sound," they gave up that space and stepped into a far more densely populated arena, where Moby, Everything But the Girl, and so many others compete to lay down ravishing pop hooks imbued with electronic magic. You might call this a process of beautification, which began with "What Sound": Lamb now floats tender melodies over lavish keyboards and acoustic guitars, and, as if to emphasize the rosy atmosphere, throws in some surprisingly optimistic - and trite - lyrics about us all being one and not having to worry about dying, and so forth. Inevitably, there are drawbacks to this new stance: once you abandon a certain harsh musical independence and begin to sound as if you were vying, with a kerjillion others, for a chart hit, you necessarily expose yourself to comparison. About half of this album compares favorably with everyone else in the field, the other half does not. I've always loved Lamb's instrumentals, and "Angelica" is possibly the most memorable tune on the CD. But the loveliness begins to peter out with "Sun" and gradually becomes too bland to register. Some of the last songs on the CD, to folky foursquare rhythm, sound like something you might hear done much better by Beth Orton. I've been listening to "Between Darkness..." repeatedly, with utter enjoyment, but cannot remember most of it. To say that I've not been deeply affected by it, as I was by "Lamb" and "Fear of Fours," would be an understatement. Too much lambness, not enough teeth.

Hammering that nail in: Lamb rise even higher..........2003-12-21

When Massive Attack failed to keep up with their own quality standards (and yes I know that's sometimes hard to define) a point was proven once again: it's incredibly hard after 3 albums to keep fulfillinf the expectations of your own fans especially if you've accustomed them to top-notch stuff.

Not so for Lamb.
Lamb, prove with "Between Darkness..." that this is a group totally underrated and with potential that goes way beyond our imaginations so far, indeed, Lamb are a group that after 3 brilliant albums make a comeback that not only is a step into a different direction but simoultaneously a step forward.

While the signs were already there for those that were watching (or listening) with their previous (and also stunning) album "What sound", this, their new LP is one that comes through not as an electronica release (even though it is) but as a very organic-sounding one.

It seems that Lamb are able to convey more feeling with each new release as such is here the case. It also seems that their singer seems to be maturing in a spectacular way. Her voice stays with you long after the CD is over and it makes you come back constantly for more.

Some critics said that this close to a "progressive electronica" album but I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean. Perhaps they are trying to point out the absence of pompous deep beats or power basses. If you've heard Lamb's "Scratch bass" in their previous album you probably know what I mean, but, having siad that, i note once again that Lamb attempt here a "different" direction and the result is nothing less than spectacular.

Dark, deeply heartfelt, tremendously atmospheric and more melodic than we've heard them before, "Between Darkness & Wonder" is an album that yes might go unnoticed in the storm of garbage the music industry is raining us with, but for those that will discover it will be another Lamb gem to cherish.

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