The Books Lost and Safe
The fact that The Books' 2003 release, Lemon of Pink, was such a critical success (even making #2 on Pitchfork's Best of 2003 list) is not surprising. Pink is just so brilliantly constructed that it makes you almost believe The Books invented the art of musique concrete. Of course that is not the case (Pierre Schaeffer claims that fame) but it is certainly one of the catchiest examples of the form in recent years. Well, until The Books released their third album, Lost and Safe. Lost and Safe won't get the same critical recognition as Pink but it is an important evolution of The Books' sound that may prove helpful in bringing them a larger audience. The main distinction between The Books of 2003 and The Books of 2005 is the addition of more developed song lyrics. But don't fret Pink and Thought of Food (2002) fans, The Books are just working overtime these days to combine all these new and old elements into their fragmented tracks. The shining achievement of this new sound is "Be Good To Them Always," which begins familiarly enough but then progresses into a Tortoise-like bass line followed by soft spoken vocals that quickly become engulfed in a series of voice samples from wherever voice samples come from until the line between what is real and what isn't is lost. Surprisingly, the most impressive track, "An Owl with with Knees," is a song that is The Books' most straight forward number (even void of a single sample) and yet at the same time their most uplifting. Here's to whatever direction The Books decide to venture next.
