Two Loons For Tea
Two Loons For Tea
Nine Lucid Dreams
(Sarathan)
Third album from Seattle duo edges in on the adult contemporary wing of trip-hop currently inhabited by Morcheeba, Sia, and Zero 7.
Maybe it’s a problem where ineptitude needs to be introduced. It is unnatural to criticize someone for knowing what they’re doing, but Two Loons For Tea are just good enough to be ineffective on Nine Lucid Dreams. With the exception of the giddy, old-time theatrics of “Dixie It Up!” too much of the album goes off as planned, leaving an antiseptic aftertaste. Sarah Scott’s voice lacks an edge, tempering the prostitute tale of “Marietta,” and only begins to show a sassy personality on the last two songs, “Toxic Shellfish In The Sun” and “Stand On Your Head.” Accomplice Jonathan Kochmer is likewise a ghost, locked on midtempo-or-less grooves and checking off a list of trip-hop production necessities. Two Loons is dying for an errant note, a vocal hiccup, a nasty beat that isn’t softened by a peripheral string section. Kochmer’s lone singing turn on “Consuela” is a nice start, exasperatingly talking to no one through a distorted microphone.
— Kevin Keegan
