Keep listening and maybe you will hear it, whatever it is you are searching for. The tour de force, atmospheric vibe omitted here could cause one to shutter then think about what is important. A detailed universe splashes upon a carbon canvas steps ahead of its intended arrival. Cardiff’s own Man Without Country share a velvet sky littered with overactive imagination, a paradoxical sonic palette which moves this debut along a ten song set. Often times, us beings anticipate a gigantic payoff in the tiniest of things. It is not because of pride we think like this for we were built this way, and cannot help it. In order to not disappoint the reader, in direct accordance with Lost Balloon/Cooperative Music, you will find five of the original ten tracks reviewed below.

Going off this thrilling sampler, “Puppets” bumps in with an eerie hypnosis, ricocheting synths between glacial guitar ripples found throughout. There is so much tone. It is almost like Tomas Greenhalf and Ryan James took time in developing a unique voice by way of corresponding instrumentals, a precise and smart strategy given the genre. King Complex maneuvers in, harnessing a dream-like state where one can journey to the end of a cliff and leap off but live to tell about the experience.

How one became acquainted with this rash phenomenon, the world may never know. Imagination is a gift, stimulated by the simplest touch or laugh. Perhaps the words embedded behind the spliced, tonal foreground are too heavy for even curiosity to ignore.

“You don’t know whether to dance to us or just listen and wallow in it,” Tomas Greenhalf said in a recent interview. “Some lyrics are more personal, and some are more ambiguous than others.”

The sampler wears a darker mask once “Ebb & Flow” sways within view, a track imbued with a visible sense of desolation. It seems the black scare haunts another two, stifling while bringing out the duo’s best, adding a second layer of mystery within the time allowed.

“There’s a feel to the music that matches the lyrics,” said Tomas Greenhalf. “The music is often moody, dark and melancholic, usually in minor keys. But there are also some uplifting passages which emphasize the poignancy of the lyrics.”

“Iceberg” and “Inflammable Heart” close the sampler with prodigious sorrow, spilling down every corridor and alleyway known the world over. Five songs separate us from each other, at least how we perceive them. Never can we agree but it is with hope we can find common ground. Man Without Country is an act to watch in 2012, and so is their full length album Foe available June 5th.

      ON TOUR

May 21 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom*

May 22 – San Diego, CA – The Casbah*

May 23 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo*

May 24 – San Francisco, CA – Popscene

May 26 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive

May 29 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall*

May 30 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge*

May 31 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie %

June 1 – Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory

June 2 – Washington, DC – Red Palace %

*in support of I Break Horses

% in support of Porcelain Raft

TAGS: cardiff, ebb&flow, foe, iceberg, inflammable heart, june 5, king complex, man without country, puppets, ryan james, tomas greenhalf, tour de force