Julian Fane's debut is certainly a promising one. Landing with a style somewhere in between Múm and Sigur Ros, Fane makes his case with cold, glitch-laden electronic ambience filled with stringed emotions and lilting vocals. In fact, cold is the operative word here. Much like the album cover, the feel here is embracing and bright, but through it all, the image retains a cold and snowy feel. The pitter-patter of snowfall crackles at the edge of Fane's sound while synths breeze by, full of shimmer and leaving feather traces. Light breakcore beats sneak in with an urgent smile, evoking old 65daysofstatic or Wisp in their way of counterpointing the introspective atmosphere.Special Forces has a charming feel, like a snowbound dream land, and the moods have a nice variety between songs while retaining a clear album motif. The only hiccup I noticed was in the singing on "Freezing in Haunted Water", which drags the song momentarily down with its ineffectual croon-mumble. Thankfully, the song picks up again, and none of the others show such a dispirited effort.
There are a lot of things to like here, especially if you're a fan of the already mentioned bands. I'll also throw M83 into that lot, since I found myself thinking of them at a few points during the album.
Verdict: Win [4/5] (fading with a sigh)
http://www.myspace.com/julianfane
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