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The Alps, "III"
III is the third album for this San Francisco trio, but the first recorded in a studio. The fantastic production values really help this shimmering instrumental work, which the band envisions as a lost soundtrack to a forgotten Italian film. That's not such a bad way of looking at this decent, though not entirely memorable, recording.
The album is pleasant enough but its consistently mellow tempo and similar arrangements don't do enough to stimulate the imagination. The band plays a lot of atmospheric jams using soaring guitars, lyric-less vocals, electronics, and a rhythm section to keep them grounded. A hazy smoke screen is used on almost every track, giving the album moments of bland uniformity. Similarly, the bass line from "Hallucinations" doesn't sound too different from the one on "Trem Fantasma," and the bass is a tad generic and forgettable on "Labyrinths." Yet the latter track is perhaps the album's finest, not only because it's one of the few that has a hint of emotion, but also because it features a saxophone that takes up the theme in a satisfyingly cathartic manner. The album does have a couple of other exceptions, like the brief, Terry Riley-inspired sax delay of "Pink Light" or the eerily droning "Echoes," but the other songs are fairly conventional, even when they add decorative textures to the introductions or endings.
Because it doesn't really end up saying much, III is a slight album that ambles about prettily without elevating itself to any remarkable or gorgeous heights. However, all the songs are mostly above average and perhaps best used as background soundtracks to more intriguing action.
