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http://www.erasingclouds.com/wk2106reviews.html#owen

Owen, Noodle (Girl in a Box)


"I like just sitting here / with the fan on" isn't the sort of
attention-grabbing album-opening sentiment that's going to convince
listeners this band has something important to say. But it's honest,
right? Sitting around wasting time, reading a magazine article and
drinking Coke: that's life. The lo-fi duo Owen makes music that
reflects an everyday sort of nonchalance, as Noodle's opening
track "I Like Just Sitting Here" makes clear. The album on the whole
is musically driven by a similar state of low-key, a sort of "we're
just messing around and seeing where it gets us" mentality. More
specifically, the album feels like an attempt to emulate in mood a
late-night off in the woods or desert somewhere, and to do so in an
impressionistic, not especially precise manner. They sing in a
hushed way, play keyboards and guitars the same, and in the process
create a 13-song testament to idling that has quite a beautiful
presence about it. Songs like the tearful "Spinning 'round the Sun"
are riveting, both for the laidback tone and the heartfelt feelings
expressed raw underneath, about love and heartbreak and so on. At
the same time, there's a playfulness to this all, a lack of caring
whether anyone thinks of them as artists. It's all kind of warped,
sometimes rather jokey, purposefully strange, and fairly sloppy. And
of course, they manage to stumble onto something quite special. –
dave heaton