2007-08-26
With such a charged name for an Israeli band it is no wonder Lebanon is going places; in fact, the four-piece has already had their share of shows, both in and out of Israel's borders (yet not a single show at the country they're named after), and with their 2nd album "Planet Rubble" it sure looks like they've got the whole second-album-test covered. "Planet Rubble" passes with flying colors, and this time there's no necessity to take a hit of anything to see these colors.
Recorded over seas, "Planet Rubble" sure has that professional yet "intended dirt" sound most indie artists are so fond of; the live "I did it myself" sound. And after seeing 'em plug in and play live more that a couple of times, you can take my word that they do sound live here. Capturing a vivid live sound is a tough task, just as re-creating an album sound is, but Lebanon simply sail though it.
"Finland" opens with little relation to the actual land; it's more like a jam session's beginning, tuning the instrument and checking out the effect until bursting to a math rock extravaganza about a minute and a half in. About half a minute after the eyes are shut on the way to the situation where you're between asleep and awake. This one also raises a question that will come many more times along the course of the album, with every shift and every crescendo, of the thin line between fluent jam session and well-written progression.
"Buried In The Avenue", a number that's well associated with the band's live output, follows and throws you around, stirs things up using just about every post-rock move known to the contemplative man, and ultimately leads as if floating to on of the best cuts here – "The Dying Dying Man". In this one you'll find a lengthy and well-developing epic, reaching for psychedelic; so celestial yet so human, making it impossible not to sink into the void of your own eyelids' inside view.
Being an instrumental band, Lebanon don't say a word yet actually say a lot about the world we live in, the city we go out to, the polluted air we breathe while looking for a parking space that doesn't take all the money we designated for drinking – you can almost call this a concept album criticizing modern urban life (the cover, artwork and poem booklet attached to the album emphasize this greatly). There is no doubt this music was created from thought, to create thought. Be it the more mellow parts like "We Never Sleep" and "Text Adventure (No Mor)" or the continuous over-six-minute orgasm "Megalith" it leads to, you get the lull from reality but will actually be forced to face it.
Be it closer to a jam session or a live show or a well-calculated math rock piece, "Planet Rubble" works and does a good job at marking Lebanon on the map. True, I may have splurged a bit with all the praises, since they do use just about every post-rock trick in the book. So dropping names such as Caspian, This Will Destroy You, If The Trees Could Talk, Irepress, We Vs. Death and even the better known Pelican wouldn't come off as foreign language. Nevertheless, they manage to make brilliant instrumental pieces which talk volumes.
Ofer Vayner
