Record Review - Love.Stop.Repeat

Love.Stop.Repeat
Love.Stop.Repeat
Make Your Own Adventure Records

Words: Chris Hynd

The first thing that strikes you about Love.Stop.Repeat is the care put in to the packaging of this, their first self-titled EP. Individually hand-made and bound, this is a record that is open, welcoming and warm right from the get-go. It's a package L.S.R. hope you will cherish and come to love over time. And they've made it easy for us, for the beauty of the music certainly matches the beauty of the CD.

It's a record that evokes nostalgia for things and events past, for the landscape that we travel through and become part of and "Secrets And Slumber" immediately showcases this, Lindsay West's sweet, sweet voice and Dave Millar's instrumentation, a wistful accordion battling over a jarring beat, "I still remember the feeling of solitude" sings West and you are immediately transported to back to the place she sings about, it's wonderfully done. "Pictures" and "Sunday Strolls And Miracles" continue the theme, the latter subsequently discovered at a recent show in Edinburgh to be a song about a trip to Cramond Island and as West sings "feel the weight of a heavy heart, as we pass along the coast, suddenly I realise, it's you I miss the most" and as the accordion and harmonium wheeze and a guitar is plaintively played you can't help but be caught up in West and Millar's trip.

"A Busy Heart Beating Strong" adds some piano to the mix, West's sultry vocal and Millar's glorious, textured drum sound sweep you away and "Melt Away" is built around a lovely little ukelele riff. The EP closes with "The New York Song", the simplest song on the record, West tells the story of a trip to New York with her sister as Millar plucks out a line on the ukelele, voice and simple instrumentation, nothing more is needed. It's at this point that I wish the last song went into the killer segue with Neutral Milk Hotel's "In An Aeroplane Over The Sea" as it does in their live shows as it's the perfect way to finish. But alas not, you'll have to go to one of their shows to experience that.

It's been said before but it really is the only word for it, this truly is a lovely, lovely record. 2 people, no fuss, no clutter, a beautiful voice and a beautiful sound. More of the same please Love.Stop.Repeat folks.