TEAM RNS PRESENTS

TITLE: Between Darkness And Wonder

RIPPER: Team RNS

0hr 45min total- 66.1mb

RELEASE DATE: 2003-11-03
RIP DATE: 2003-10-02

10 That Thing (Open Up)           4:50
11 Heads And Flowers              5:25

Following its inception in a sqatted
bank in Holland nearly two years ago,
through a protracted gestation period out
in the sticks via some fine tuning in
LA, Lamb's latest opus - 'Between
Darkness and Wonder' - has finally
been born. And my how things have
changed since the world of 'What Sound'.
When I first visited the farmhouse back
In May it seemed contributions from
Oddur, Nikolai and Jon were nudging the
band towards a more pastoral vibe.

Lamb's tricky time signatures had been
tamed, the usual creative conflicts
tempered and Lou was jokingly
referring to their time together as

The peace and tranquility lasted about
five minutes. When the new tracks were
unveiled on their British tour a couple
of months later it became apparent there's
a new undercurrent rippling through
Lamb's musical landscape.

Darkness is there brooding in the
title, its mood rumbles though most of
the material and it turns up time and
time again in Lou's lexicon of love.

At times her poetry resonates with a
longing and sadness so profound it's
almost like eavesdropping on a private
conversation. When she delivers the
line "...nothing you do can seem to
break through this darkness smothering
you. When it takes hold your heart turns
cold/The very soul seeps out of you.."
during hyperballad 'Til The Clouds
Clear' you just want to put a
protective arm around her shoulders. In
the past where we've shared perfect
moments with 'Lullaby' or fallen in love
with 'Gorecki', in 'Stronger' we're in
turmoil from the opening line... "I'm
so afraid something's been broken
now/Too much been said, to wipe it clean
somehow..." Yet, ironically, Lou has
never sounded so sure and self
expressed. Instead of sticking with the
Eartha Kitt purr, she swoops and soars,
her voice working with great stealth and

This is the sound of Lamb exploring a
wild dark spark and through all the
painful soul searching a kind of peace
and solidarity have emerged. Gone is the
tussle between delicate, tremulous
vocals and contrary electronics.

Instead we get some kind of closure.
Falling in love (as confessed to 15,000
people at the Algarve Students festival
in Portugal earlier this year) has
opened Andy up to the exquisite pain of
getting vulnerable, and out of the
confusion everything's clicked into
place. Whereas once he impatiently
chased the bass determined to get Lou
out of her head and onto the dancefloor,
now he's helping her articulate a swirling
mass of emotions.
No matter how acute things get there's
the core belief, that love really does
conquer all, holding everything
together. As we emerge out of the
darkness and through to 'Wonder' Lou
muses ..."Don't know if God exists/But
there's some magic out there'" whilst
in 'Open up' she considers the 'true
possibility that we're all one". Yet even
in the lighter moments there's an
intensity that grabs you by the
earlobes and commands your full
attention. It's like there's no time
but present time. We need to feel
passion and give unconditional love and
access the magic in the everyday and we
have to do it now.

By the time the peaks and troughs of
'Sugar 5' are over you're left reeling
round the speakers. The only time Lamb
veer away from their intent - 'Sun'
never quite captures the glory of its
live rendition - you're immediately
wishing you were back in the thick of

And '..Darkness..' sounds so good. The
production revels in the warmth and detail
of the songs which are lush with
harmonies, angelic orchestrations and a
sound so intimate that at times I
swear you can hear the wind rustle
through Lou's vocal chords. Genius
samples such as the scratchy musical box
which stutters through 'Please' and a
charming piano loop liberated from what
sounds like Debussy's 'Claire de Lune'
for instrumental 'Angelica', weave a
romantic streak through the fabric of
their music lending it a timeless,

'Between Darkness and Wonder' marks a
loss of innocence and a fall from grace,
but having weathered the storm Lamb have
grown in confidence and grandeur. This
is not easy listening, but it is what
music's all about - it gets under your
skin, takes hold and lingers long after
the last track has faded. No longer
content just to rock your world, this
time Lamb are gonna blow you sky high.

Hi to my friends in sm*it!