Seefeel: Seefeel

Seefeel
Seefeel
Rating: Grrrr

Back in the early 90s, Seefeel stood out in the crowded shoegaze field by straddling the line between guitar-centric songs and more ambient/techno IDM. Owing more to Aphex Twin than My Bloody Valentine, Seefeel, led by Mark Clifford, pushed the limits of the sound as far as they could. Their debut album Quique, is a classic, mixing intoxicating drum loops, samples and keyboards, with wordless vocals and heavily treated guitars. It was truly a monumental recording at the time, and still sounds fresh today. Over the course of two more albums in a three year period, Seefeel moved further towards an all electronic approach, and even ventured into drone territory on their last album, 1996's CH-VOX. Seefeel took an extended hiatus afterwards, and almost 15 years later, appear with a new release, the fascinating Seefeel.

The good thing about this record is that it still sounds like Seefeel, but with a more direct purpose. While it still leans more towards experimental electronic music, it is not so obtuse as to be a difficult listen. Instead of the more driving techno based songs on Quique, the songs on Seefeel build their structures on the base of dub music. Real drums feature on the tracks, heavy and echoed, and the bass is deep, buzzing and droney. Vocals, when they do appear, are mostly wordless and appear almost as just another piece of the music.

The tracks are divided into short instrumental passages that are beatless and heavy on experimentation ("O-One One," "Gzaug," and "Step Up"); to longer instrumental passages like the stunning "Aug30" which features heavily treated guitar feedback, twisted and corrupted into new melodies, which fades in and out of the background, working with the negative space to create a wondrous tension:



or the almost beatless "Airless" with its haunting vocals, cut and pasted, sounding like the singer is drowning in digital feedback:



The majority of the new material is influenced tremendously by dub music The drums are hollow and echoed, while the bass is low and droning. Seefeel locks into some killer grooves at times, especially on the amazing track "Rip-Run":



"Dead Guitars" lives up to its title, with the guitars decaying and fighting for life:



"Making," which is probably the most accessible track, moves effortlessly on a deep dub bass track, with liquid keyboards floating along the drugged out drum track and breathless vocals:



Seefeel is a challenging record, but not difficult to be immersed in. Even after a long hiatus, the band retains their signature "sound" but takes it into new areas by embracing dub and other new textures. Let's just hope Mark Clifford and company don't wait another 15 years to give us more new music.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top albums of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been trimmed or polished.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.