If “lush” and “lulling” are words you’d rather not see associated with the music you listen to, go to another entry now. After all, that’s what Land Patterns is all about. File it under post-rock if you want, but you won’t find a drumbeat here (however repetitive) or building climaxes — that’s the lulling part. On the other hand, you won’t find either the lo-fi graininess of electric guitars run through cheap beaten amplifiers à la shoegazing style — and that’s the lush part. The World on Higher Downs’ debut CD consists of beautifully recorded, carefully written, and meticulously arranged instrumentals. Keyboards, guitars, violin, and mallet percussion (vibes and glockenspiel, mostly) dominate the sound palette, but there are also touches of brass, percussion, and electronics. One thinks of Labradford and Slowdive, but also Steve Reich, Klaus Schulze, or the productions released by labels such as Stilll, Type, and Büro. Some of the eight tracks have a subtle lounge jazz feel, “Two Aged Windows” leans toward chamber music (lots of pizzicato violin), “Alpine Low” is very gamelan-like, while other pieces come closer to the Tortoise/Mogwai paradigm. Yet, despite this level of diversity, Land Patterns is a rather homogeneous album, imbued with a clear personality. If this quartet of multi-instrumentalists from Wisconsin tends to stretch out a bit too long (most tracks are over seven minutes, a duration not consistently justified), the World on Higher Downs manage to hit a very pleasant atmosphere and succeed most of the time in transporting the listener. This is not music you remember in detail after one or even a few spins, but it makes excellent background music and still rewards a more attentive listen. Highlights include “Euclid,” “Two Aged Windows,” and the closer, “Sun Court,” while the overlong and eventless “Ascension And” constitutes the sole weak track on this first effort. – François Couture
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