Album Reviews

Album Review: Lanu – Her Twelve Faces (Tru Thoughts)

By | Published on Tuesday 14 December 2010

Lanu

Guitarist/Producer Lance Ferguson is frontman of The Bamboos, an Aussie funk band who are currently celebrating ten years together. Lanu is Ferguson’s solo project, and here he teams up with ARIA winning vocalist Megan Washington for a slightly poppy, downbeat collection of grooves.

It’s a nice little package, though I must admit I very nearly passed on it, the first two tracks being a little too sugary and kitsch for my liking. But I’m glad I persisted, because the sugar coating dissipated as the album developed. ‘Wire’, in particular, impressed, with a harder trip hop-esque background that seemed better suited to Washington’s vocals. Meanwhile ‘Fall’, while it wouldn’t look too out of place on Radio 2’s playlist, is another good if rather different tune, the vocal delivery a little akin to Amy McDonald. And then we head further folk-wards with ‘Roosevelt Blues’.

Washington doesn’t appear throughout, with seven of the twelve actually consisting of Ferguson on his lonesome. And here too there is much to impress. ‘Portrait In 50Hz’ is beautifully majestic downtempo, while we hit the Tropics with ‘Coral Route’ and its lilting Hawaiian guitar. The delicate ‘Jean Paul’, with its music box feel, is quite simply lovely chill out, and we fade out with Roxy Music’s ‘More Than This’ but with French lyrics, a touch peculiar but it just about works. PV

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