Have you ever found a record, that once you got it home and dropped it into the stereo, the sound made you feel like home?  It is difficult to quantify that feeling, the warmth in the sound of an old friends voice on the telephone, or your wife/husband walking through the door after you’ve suffered through a horrendous day.  Letting Up Despite Great Faults has managed, at least to this writers ear to translate that feeling into uplifting, wispy sonic landscapes on their self-titled debut LP.  This is music for the Fall, for changing seasons and colors, the kind of record you pass along to your friends in order to pick up their moods.

Classifications can get pretty boring and obvious, but are necessary when  attempting to paint a literary picture of somebodies music.  One of the great things about Letting Up Despite Great Faults is how their sound blends the present with the future, peppered with a little flavoring of the past.  Think The Cure, Dusty Trails, Ivy, and even a touch of Elliot Smith (during the floating melodies of “Sun Drips”).  They weave mellow electronic grooves with an acoustic sensibility.  Some indie music (or even major label releases for that matter) sounds so depressing, it’s as if the artist is trying to make you feel like slitting your wrists.  There is a time and place for morose, and there is also room for positivity (especially now) and Letting Up has opted for sunshine.

The synth line effect on the introductory “in steps” (also their single, I think) can lead you to believe your player might actually be skipping.  The seemingly broken stroke/loop of the keys works, odd enough as it sounds, like a virtual sonic curtain, lifted to expose a catchy, wide-open, airy song that would be right at home on the Away We Go soundtrack (the funny coming-of-age indie film, check it out if you haven’t already seen it).  The aptly titled “Folding under stories told” has a familiar sound to it; an incremental energy via new wave-style synthesizers, building drum loops, and a Cure-like chord progression.  This music takes me back, back to the days of WLIR FM on Long Island (something I’ve mentioned before here on BuzzOfTheBay, the station that introduced me to The Smiths and Depeche Mode).  The dreamy guitar licks that kick off “pause” conjure images of early morning talk sessions with dear friends; the times you wish you could hold onto forever.

Needless to say; music, like all art is in the eye of the beholder (here I am, repeating myself yet again) so perhaps much of this article seems overstated.  I’m not saying Letting Up Despite Great Faults are The Beatles or even New Order, rather I’m trying to give you a glimpse of the beauty I hear in their music, and it is simply gorgeous.  There is also something for everyone here: A bit of drum-n-bass, some lighthearted choruses, and a sound that is both electronic and folky at the same time.  I am very thankful to have found their music and look forward to seeing them live here in the Bay Area, hopefully sometime soon!  Look em up, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.