Album covers (most of the time) define an album for the artist. The Velvet Underground & Nico's banana art by Andy Warhol was revolutionary and began the beginning of the "indie" scene, The Beatles' self-titled "White Album" launched the idea of simplistic colors to define an album's sound and Nirvana's infamous naked baby cover reeked rebellion and revolutionary-like standards. The experimental folk artist's debut LP Mare's cover looks like a beautifully drawn horse on a brown paper bag. It reeks folk artistic features that touch bases with the experimental side adding in very off-putting electronics. Mare's cover is something you look at and then lose interest, a lot like Lynch's music.
Julian Lynch's music has a very deep and atmospheric quality about it. Maybe to much, it feels dominating into the upper regions of the sound and creates a very deep voiced sound. Lynch sounds a lot like a amped up Nick Drake (speaking of Pink Moon-era). Lynch's music comes across as very revealing and emotional, deep tom-tom hits that hidden well within the clutches of inaudible vocals and very bizarre keyboard lines that a lot of the time have no business being there.
The most upbeat of the songs is "Ears", the drums sounds like a tribal gathering and ghostly cries of Lynch bring in a very damp and moisture-filled sound. The most interesting of the short 37-minute LP is "A Day At the Racetrack" that brings in good hooks of jazzy guitars and other assorted horns. The bass is also at it's most finest moment, very deep and mellow but not as overpowering at it is on the rest of the album. Another interesting and enjoyable track is "In New Jersey" that truly sums up Lynch's debut in a whole. Starting out with bizarre noises with hints of distant electronic vamps with a very tribal drum feel that escalates into Lynch's very hypnotic inaudible singing. Then a very psychedelic guitar solo emerges under the progressive bass line, following the guitar solo is a very jazzy avant-garde saxophone solo emerges and counter-acts the very mellow druggy feel that Lynch is so adept at creating.
Speaking of druggy, a lot of the music sounds like a relaxing LSD trip. "Stomper" has a very jangly keyboard line that clashes against chessy synthesizers and has a very druggy feel. It may sound very interesting at first, but really does start to ware down on your after a couple of listens. In fact the music might ware down to being very boring. Though Julian Lynch is creative, the music he creates has to much of a muffled sound that can act like a snooze button. "Ruth, My Sister" has the most "clear" sound with a very jazzy saxophone part that feels bizarre next to the keyboard part.
Mare never truly satisfies the listener. It stays on the same level -- dull transitions and very hypnotic rhythm sections. It feels like Lynch put a giant cloth on everything in his music to make it all sound muffled and earthy. It can work to an extent, but Lynch's approach is very dull and lacks the satisfaction that a listener always craves.
Overall: 5.7/10.0
Track Listing:
1. Just Enough - 6.0
2. Mare - 6.0
3. A Day At the Racetracks - 8.0
4. Stomper - 5.0
5. Interlude - 4.5
6. Still Racing - 5.0
7. Ears - 5.5
8. Ruth, My Sister - 5.5
9. Travelers - 5.0
10. In New Jersey - 6.5
Sample:
"Travelers"
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