Gloamer - Loon Lake - Album Review

Loon Lake, the cheery 5 piece from Melbourne released their debut LP Gloamer on the 11th of October this year following successful EPs, Not Just Friends (2011) and Thirty Three (2012). Loon Lake shot up after releasing Not Just Friends touring the country with some of Australia’s biggest bands and getting their sweet tunes all over Triple J. They even landed Cherry Lips at #29 in the Hottest 100 earlier this year. Everything about them screamed an amazing debut and an album to contest for Aussie album of the year.

Gloamer wasn’t what I was expecting; I hit play hoping for surfy guitar licks full of energy, something I could dance too and blast on the way to the beach. I was a disappointed though at the lack of energy. Loon Lake has been a band for long summer days in the sun but the guys explained that Gloamer, the albums title, means “the time of day after the sun sets and before it gets dark”. The LP has a more serious sound, Loon Lake have shifted away from light surfy sunny tunes to, well... It’s hard to say.

There's just something missing in Gloamer. While a few tracks, notably the singles have the surfy guitar riffs prominent on Loon Lake’s earlier EPs most of the album lacks the indie-rock guitar tone of Loon Lake. Rather than the raw fresh sound of the earlier stuff the album seems overproduced, did Loon Lake even have a keyboard before they went into the studio?

It’s slower than their earlier stuff, not as catchy and half the fun. Loon Lake is a band you want to get up and dance too but they’ve produced an album with very few energetic tracks. Half the songs feel like they want to erupt and the subdued feel is frustrating.

It’s not all bad though. Sam Nolan’s voice is one of the most distinctive in the Australian music scene. It draws you in you can’t help but wish he was singing faster while thrashing his guitar! They’ve written some big choruses but the songs themselves lack the punch of the bands earlier work.

Loon Lake have produced a great album, just not what you would expect from the joyful five piece. It's hard to draw a line between whether Gloamer is a development of maturity or a loss of youth. There are splashes of their brilliance in tracks like lead single Carolina, It Was Only Love and City Lights but overall the sound is different.

While I thought Gloamer might be the Australian album of the summer, I must accept it won’t be. My search for the soundtrack of the summer continues.

You can catch Loon Lake at the Big Day Out in early 2014 and if they are as good as they have been in the past they will be worth seeing. It will be interesting to see if they can mix their previous energy and new maturity on stage. Let’s hope they can!

6/10

James Macdonald

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