steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

review
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info opinion

The Accident That Led Me To The World

"The Island Gospel" CD

Nobody's Favorite Records

Genre: folk, folk-pop

July 10 2008

Last we heard from The Accident That Led Me To The World, it was so many pretty little folk songs (twelve) in so little time (26 minutes). This time around they've produced ten tracks in thirty three minutes, so I guess that's a slight step in another direction. Yet musically, The Island Gospel is another fine sampling of TATLMTTW's gorgeously warm acoustic folk-pop. The frequently harmonized vocals of Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards supply rich, memorable memories to the proceedings, with accompaniment derived from bass, guitar, banjo, and the occasional clarinet. It's hard not to fall in love with the delicately precious melodies of album highlights "Try Try Try," "Caves," and "Statues". I do find some of these songs run in to each other stylistically, meaning the tracks with less melodic salience tend to come across as one homogeneous blob. However, the lovely bonfire-folk vibe of this album prevents the attention from wandering too much; I can't think of a better companion to a winter night at home alone.

tatlmttw's myspace

85%

youuuuuuuutube!: three songs live

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 10 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2008]