—Irin Carmon

Park Avenue Music

To Take With You

Devil In The Woods/Sugar Free

Trip hop has remained an almost entirely British affair since its inception in the “Bristol sound” pioneered by bands such as Tricky, Massive Attack and Portishead. However, it was probably only a matter of time, particularly given the disappearance of many of the big names, before an American band figured they could mix big chillout beats and electronic burbles with blissed-out vocals. That band is Park Avenue Music. And the result is not half bad: captivating, ethereal vocals that mumble about how “I’ll always be with you,” or some such, over uneven, skittering drum loops.

Unfortunately, that is about as far as it goes, as the band lacks any of the features that made trip hop’s pioneers stand out so much. They cannot match Portishead, the band they most resemble, for eerie gloom and atmospherics, nor Massive Attack for their raps and stylistic breadth, nor Tricky for his sheer, well, trickyness. By about half-way through the album, there is the distinct impression of having heard that particular drum loop somewhere before, and the lyrics certainly aren’t going to save the album: Like Portishead, you’re doing well if you can make out anything of what the lead singer is singing about. The lack of any song with a definite groove begins to irk, and even the songs themselves seem to suffer from a lack of material. Not only is there song called “24 Hours,” but also “73 Hours,” which borrows a chunk of its melody from Enya’s easy-listening library, while much of the rest of the album steers rather close to Björk’s Vespertine. This is a brave attempt to follow in the footsteps of the masters, and although it never ceases to be beautiful, in the end To Take With You falls just on the “elevator” side of the garden of music that is easy to listen to. Rating: 3/5

—Andrew R. Iliff