:: Decoder Ring - They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team

Decoder Ring

It’s a harsh thing to have to say, and I should add something that I don’t like having to say, but Decoder Ring lost a lot of their spark when former member Lenka Kripac left in 2007. While their musical ability is still clearly present on new album ‘They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team’, you don’t go very far into the album before you can tell that it is nowhere near as good as the ‘Somersault Soundtrack’ or ‘Fractions’. As good as the music sounds you find yourself yearning for that something more, Lenka’s vocals. ‘They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team’ is a 2CD set, but the first disc is by far the best. When you hear a track like ‘Beat The Twilight’ your mind conjures up some of the amazing work that Brian Eno has done over the years, and this is followed up by the track that the album takes its name from, which is a piece of moody experimental rock that takes the listener on a dreamy journey. The same can be said for the celestial, ‘Point No Point’. Decoder Ring recaptures the sound they created on the Somersault Soundtrack on ‘Astronaut Farewell Blues’ and ‘Charlotte Rampling’ while the very slow and moody ‘And The Grass Will Grow Over Your Cities’ sounds like it needs to be included on a soundtrack. Two of my favorite tracks are ‘Happy Place’ that sounds like Decoder Ring have captured the sound of snow falling and ‘100 Suns’, a great piece of electronic rock that is constantly building to a crescendo. It is disc two that lets down this album. ‘Same Old Paradise’, ‘The Horse And The Hand Grenade’, ‘All The Streams Have Little Glitches In Them’, and ‘The Inland Sea’ are all uninspiring tracks that fail to hit their marks. It’s actually a shame to hear Decoder Ring sounding like this. If you a lover of experimental rock or simply a hardcore Decoder Ring fan then you’ll give the first disc of ‘They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team’ a listen and you will enjoy it, I just wouldn’t be giving disc two too many listens if I were you. One of Australia’s top groups are struggling and lets hope they can turn that around.