For their third album, Sennen retreated to a North London studio while last year’s riots raged around them, but on Lost Harmony they found calm within the storm. Their subtle melodies and rhythms are understated, tranquil, but almost hypnotic, carrying you into a blissful, dreamlike state for the 39 minutes this album will fill your ears.
On one level, ‘Vultures’ is simply the musical standout on this record, its pounding drums and incessant rhythm marking the moment this album really takes hold four tracks in – that’s not to dismiss what goes before, but the sparse sounds of opener ‘Colder’ introduce the album with a sweet whisper and it only builds gradually until ‘Vultures’ pushes through to open the door fully. But then if we tell you ‘Vultures’ is about the current economic crisis, and comes complete with a video about the work of Nikolai Kondratiev, the Russian economist who developed the theory of boom and bust cycles in capitalist economies, you might see a general pattern of how there is a depth to Sennen’s songs that doesn’t immediately meet the eye.
Their sound may still contain hints of the indie shoegaze you might expect from a band named after a Ride b-side, but they’re clearly moving further and further away from it, creating something much more elegant and polished. They increasingly mix in acoustic sounds to give a gentler touch to the record and by the time the strings of closer ‘I Watched The End With You’ chime in you’ll be happy to dismiss any attempts to pigeonhole a band charting their own course.