The Portland, OR duo of Barbra Kinzle and Birch Cooper have a unique semblance among other boy-girl acts such as Altar Eagle and The Goslings. To pepper the information surrounding their debut The Slaves hand Matt Carlson of the critically acclaimed Golden Retriever mastering duties, and in return receive a grand separation between Ocean On Ocean's glossily upfront sounds and its alienating, subtler tones.
Kinzle's vocals and synth-work meld with Cooper's high-frequency guitar shrieks to create a lush, undulating atmosphere capable of putting the listener in a dreamlike state of mind. This aura was similarly executed on lovesliescrushing's xuvetyn with its absence of percussion and slow, narcotic pace. To its detriment, though, Ocean On Ocean doesn't seem to elaborate on the sound introduced from the very beginning and carries the same theme for its 50-minute length. This aspect relies on the listener's attention span, though, and whether or not these eight heavily sustained ballads are too much of a good thing.
Ocean On Ocean has two dynamics: to soothe and to disturb. Certain tracks lean more in favor of one than the other, and are justified by the amount of atmosphere and noise within. Essentially this album is a series of harmonic waves with a constant pattern, yet each wave varies in size and shape. The Slaves have put forth a solid debut with a tight grasp of beauty and apprehension.
[The Slaves Myspace]
[Buy Ocean On Ocean from Debacle Records]
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