Low Level Owl: Volume 1 is the first of two recordings to be released by The Appleseed Cast this year, with Volume 2 coming in the fall. Both discs were recorded at the same time, and Volume 1 shows that one of the top bands in the emo genre is continuing to grow and expand their horizons. Not content to rest on their laurels, the band has added more keyboards, more experimentation, more studio tricks, and a bit more non-traditional percussion.
Produced by veteran Ed Rose, the disc presents fourteen tracks which all run together as a single piece, and one with a very atmospheric sound. The album sounds like a film score. Nearly half of the disc is instrumental, and the band offers a much more "lush" sound than before. The guitars are still there, but they are less up front than on the band's previous full length discs (Mare Vitalis and End of the Ring Wars).
Lyrically, the band continues with intimate, and often cryptic, examinations of life and the inner self. In "On Reflection" they lament a friend who has sold them out:
Fall out. Your friends are toys.
In time. That outstretched hands you had to shake.
Will sell you out. And leave your wreck.
And "Steps and Numbers" is a swipe at our celebrity culture, and maybe even at the record industry itself:
Are you wishing on a star. Did you know your dreams are sold.
To people who dream only of gold. They'll find a way to pull stars down.
Other noteworthy tunes include "Blind Man's Arrow," "Mile Marker," and "Signal," as well as "Doors Lead to Questions," which features a Zeppelin-esque looped drum phrase at its backbone.
Low Level Owl: Volume 1 shows that The Appleseed Cast is willing to grow and change with the times and not continuously rehash what has worked for them in the past. This is the kind of album you'll want to listen to alone, late at night with all of the lights turned out...and you can create your own film in your head.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
Decapolis 2001Reviewed by Nate BaileyLow Level Owl, Vol. 1 is a concept album in a way. It's more like a classical symphony than anything else. Instead of individual songs, there are movements. Each movement is linked to the next with electronic induced loops, echoes, and instrumentals (many with piano). This is only the first volume, there is a second that follows up where this leaves off, and the whole project is over two hours in…The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Andy ArgyrakisIt's hard to pinpoint a group that can glaze over different musical plains, yet make all of their sounds, as unorthodox as they may be, seem like they fit together. The Appleseed Cast's latest can best be summarized as a melancholy sequence of stunning orchestrations and breathtaking crescendos. They start out with an emo base, but instead of calculating their sounds around that style, the group…The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Bert GanglLow Level Owl: Volume I, the third full-length project from the Appleseed Cast, is the first of two entries in a 26-song set from the Lawrence, Kansas-based quartet, with the second volume slated for release in late October of 2001. Like The End of the Ring Wars and Mare Vitalis before it, the latest effort falls broadly into the emo/dream pop section of the modern rock panorama. But where Ring…The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Olin JenkinsThe last time I saw Appleseed Cast in concert, this emo band was very loud, and as I remember them then, holding lots of hope for the world. With Low Level Owl: (Volume 1), Appleseed Cast is almost musically and lyrically subdued. If you like the style of The Juliana Theory at a more sombre sound level, you may enjoy this project. Then again, the lyrics may have you guessing again. Low Level Owl…Similar sounding releases
2005My EducationItalian
2003MogwaiHappy Songs for Happy People
2001Au Revoir BorealisTienken
2002HalleyForget The Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us
1995The Prayer ChainMercury
2001Ester DrangGoldenwestMore from The Appleseed Cast
2003Two Conversations
2001Low Level Owl, Vol. 2
1998The End of the Ring Wars
2000Mare Vitalis
2002Lost Songs
1999The Appleseed Cast | Planes Mistaken For Stars | Race Car Riot
