Said the Gramophone

check your mirrors

It's warmer in Montreal this afternoon, but I will not let my wintry, frostbitten spirit be thawed: Moody Week continues.

Today, we listen to Logh, a Swedish band that has recorded two albums of glacial rock music, falling somewhere between the desolation of Low and the warmth/melody of American Analog Set. Further touchstones, I guess, are Kepler and Jimmy Eat World circa Clarity. Anyway, while last year's The Raging Sun was a bit of a disappointment, the group's debut, Every Time a Bell Rings an Angel Gets His Wings is a fine, half-frozen thing, and these tracks have both been plucked from it.

Logh - "In Cold Blood". Like ice-floats on a river, this is a slow and ruminating song; tones of ennui, loss and love swirl around slurs of guitar, murmurs of voice. And then the whole last minute is a wonderful, rounded organ drone. A camera slowly dollying back, panning away.

Logh - "Note on the Bathroom Mirror". Here we've got verses you can bob your head to, a chorus with its own opaque-but-catchy phrases. Logh don't let themselves get too much caught up in the fun of a rock song, but when the bass (or whatever it is) pipes up at 2:13, there's a whole lot to like: it's like a highspeed ride down a grey-and-snowcaked highway, when the scattered green trees suddenly break into view.

Moody Week's got a few days left, yet, and there's a whole lot of stuff I'm considering throwing up. Feel free to vote on which of the following bands you'd most like to see showcased: Kepler, The Dears, the Tragically Hip, 'moody hip-hop', Harvey Danger, Bedhead...