Sometimes rock and roll doesn’t necessarily make you want to jump around the room, it doesn’t always have you singing your head off in the car as you make your merry way around suburban estates, or up and down miles of endless motorway; there are, believe it or not, occasions when a group of musicians put out a record that has much more than all that to offer. So very much more.

In the same way that in the art world Guernica would leave you feeling edgy and intense in a way that Camille Pissarro’s Little Bridge at Pontoise could never muster, music, it has to be said, can stir your emotions and moods in any one of a million ways.

With ‘Static Patterns and Souvenirs’ Nottingham based four piece have crafted a collection of songs that will lull you gently and find you a haven from the rat race; they will ease your weariness and soothe your anger until there is nothing left to do but submit to the sounds that they create. Despite being immensely stripped back, and lusciously disparate and fragile this record has the unnerving ability to hold you compelled, totally and utterly unable to do anything other than absorb the atmosphere, become enveloped in the aura and succumb to the sounds of the static patterns flowing gently from your speakers, totally transfixed by the beauty of it all.

The slow-core nature of this record immediately brings to mind the works of Mojave 3, Low, Mazzy Star, and Words on Music label-mates Coastal, the dreamy, downbeat, introspective nature of the songs is wholly captivating, whilst the compelling, structured melodies leave you unable to do nothing more than stare at the sounds as they seep around the room with an effortless elegance and an insistent charm. On the surface it all seems very basic, stripped back and skeletally fragile, but listen again and there are layers and layers of subtle, delicate orchestration going on that belie the lo-fi nature of the whole production. Lorna just seem to be so good at what they do that you don’t immediately notice it happening.

The whole record rolls and falls, it sways and swoons and brings together a whole host of influences from country, through folk and right around to the understated Scottish pop of Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura. If you’re looking for a hazy, lazy Sunday morning record to gently breeze you through the summertime, then this is the record for you, if what you want is a set of songs to ease the pain of distance, to quell the forceful emotive desperation of separation then I can recommend these songs. If you are in need of luscious, luxurious, textured, innately beautiful songs to make your world a better place then Lorna have the record for you. It really is that simple.

Words by Johnny Mac
 

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