Lucky Pierre
Dip

5
...according to our Phil on 08 February 2007.

Another contender for album of the week was LUCKY PIERRE's  new pop album Dip. Him and old Malcolm are gonna be battling it out for the best Arab Strap member solo album award later at the Brits no doubt. I wonder who'll win that one?? Well Dip is here right now on CD and LP thanks to those nice people at Melodic. It starts off sounding like mermaids are serenading you through the speakers with wooshes, strings and some wooing. The whole thing carries on being very orchestral and gentle sounding. It has a very nautical feeling and I reckon this is the calming sounds you hear in your head as your lungs are feeling with water before you die the horrible death that is drowning. The 1st time I heard this I didn't get it at all, but on repeated listens it's a thoroughly gorgeous beast indeed. Highly recommended and I can see this appealing to folks who like Rachels, Max Richter and other neo classical lovelies.

Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.

What their label says...

*Following the shock announcement of the Arab Strap split, here's some good
news for fans of Aidan Moffat's side project, L. Pierre - there's a new
album, Dip, on the horizon.
*Written and recorded before the Arab Strap breakup was finalised, Dip explores
a quieter, more contemplative side of Moffat's musical personality.
*"My favourite L. Pierre tracks have always been the quiet ones so I wanted
to pursue that mood and record something gentle and lovely," he says. "I
also took a shine to field recording and bought myself a little Minidisc
recorder, which I took on holiday to record some natural ambience."
*A giant sideways leap from the critically acclaimed Hypnogogia (2002) and
Touchpool (2004), Dip finds Moffat eschewing the drum loops and effects
that characterised his previous recordings in favour of a more organic,
live sound, with a specially assembled group of Alan Barr (cello), Stevie
Jones (double bass) and Allan Wylie (trumpet) complementing Moffat on
drums, keyboards, percussion and harmonium.
*The result is an album that takes us on a journey through the full range of
human emotions, from Ache's morose, mournful strings to the frantic, jesterly
Hike. Ending as it begins, with the sound of the waves crashing against the
shore, there's a sense of oneness to the album, as if it could play forever as
a song cycle. This, says Moffat, is because Dip was conceived as a whole album,
rather than a collection of odds and ends.

*Tracklisting: Gullsong, Weirs Way, Gust, Ache, Hike, Drift