CAUGHT AND LOST

When it comes time for a band to release their second album, it's generally expected that the new music will be better developed and executed than before. With the experience and procedure of making music already under the belt, it seems natural for a sophomore release to generally sound 'better' than it's predecessor. Unfortunately, with British post rock act Loss Of A Child, this is not the case.

With their first effort 'The Future Symphony,' this young act proved that while flawed, they could fashion some beautiful soundscapes and a general vibe of 'epic' that permeated throughout the album. Despite not being excellent by any stretch, things were looking promising. With that in mind, imagine the dissapointment with a second album that not only does not improve on the band's form, but is without a doubt, a far weaker production than it's predecessor.

As one might guess from the album artwork, 'Caught & Lost' is meant to be a companion work to 'The Future Symphony.' The musical style is virtually identical to the first one; driving lo-fi post rock with a heavy focus on piano leads. The difference here however, is that there is much less that really grabs the attention, as well as a lack of inherent flow that is supposed to be included in Loss Of A Child's self-proclaimed 'album length suites.'

For the most part, the sound here (while still well executed for an indie production) is garbled, and there is little to no variety throughout the course of the album. Throughout almost all of 'Caught & Lost,' things revolve around one or two musical ideas and fail to offer much else. There are a few sections of respite in which things get more ambient and guitar-centered, but the majority is still based on tired piano melodies overtop a garbled mess of post rock noise.

On a positive note, this is the only Loss Of A Child album that holds this little value with me; the rest trump 'Caught & Lost' by leaps and bounds. This is an album that basks in it's flaws, and it is made all the more dissapointing by the fact that the band has the potential to make some really powerful music.