Tiger Lou "The Loyal"

Mournful as a procession past a mass grave, Tiger Lou's The Loyal has brought boundless joy to my life for the past month. Reviving a sound that had been MIA since Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights -- comparisons to which led me to this release -- The Loyal transmutes the cellar of somber, subdued hues into vibrance.

Enveloped in a lush gloom, sullen guitars march forward, propelled by the purposefully pulsing rhythm section, an imperative organ ceding center stage. Mellow strings sway behind many tracks, and the hypnotic hum of Rasmus Kellerman's voice buttresses a sound of pervasive fullness.

Kellerman's touch -- he writes and records almost entirely solo -- lends itself to steadiness. The pace flows, adjustments emerging as natural tides; vocals inflect only slightly, but ranging just beyond monotone with a voice so naturally melodious and musical radiates polychromatic appeal. Kellerman's voice is so integral, enlivening, in fact, that I often find myself skipping the closer -- a fine piece of instrumental ambience, cold and droning -- to begin the album anew.

Eyeball Records has spied itself one of 2008's best indie albums.

Tiger Lou: "The Loyal"

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