Postcard by LOU
LOU characteristically embraces melody and mood on their third album, 'Postcard', written and recorded while travelling overseas. LOU, the solo project of Melbourne/Narmm musician, Sarah Hardiman (Brick Head, Moon Rituals, Deaf Wish), follows up the more experimental 'Soundtrack' (Nice Music 2024) with a return to the languid lyricism of their first release, 'For the Morning' (Sorcerer Records 2022). The third album for LOU continues the expressive and sun-washed ambient guitar instrumentals of previous releases, with gestures of weirder minimalist avant pop.
Buying cheap toy instruments from marketplaces on their travels, Hardiman composed nine wonky guitar-based tracks in five days using children’s guitars, melodica and makeshift percussion; interspersing songs with field recordings of ambient street sounds recorded from the terrace or on evening walks. They then returned home to Australia to add further instrumentation and madcap sonics. This ad hoc DIY approach is familiar territory for LOU fans. With idiosyncratic naive melodies, 'Postcard' focuses on capturing an atmosphere, happy to lazily sink into the background of a daydream.
'Postcard' develops its theme through romantic titles befitting any generic tourist postcard. Opener, 'Boulevard', sets a warm, soporific state of mind, establishing the horizon of the record. Oddball works like 'Gold Man' and 'Cinema Rif' are complimented by unaffected lo-fi bedroom ditties, 'Taxicab' and 'Café Noir'. Breezy melodica and Spanish guitar scales are playfully exaggerated by the European imagery of 'Market Square', 'Tangerines in a Basket' and 'Patisserie'.
The album artwork, elegantly executed by Carl Breitkreuz, clearly nods to abstracted Matisse paper cut-outs, capturing the sun setting over a headland in the sea. Conjuring an atmosphere of seaside carnivals, smoky cafes and night markets, 'Postcard' is a dreamlike sojourn to somewhere familiar and illusory.
Pro dubbed cassette, limited 50 copies via ODY SHAPE RECORDS.
Tracklist
| 1. | Boulevard | 4:56 |
| 2. | Taxicab | 1:26 |
| 3. | Gold Man | 2:36 |
| 4. | Cinema Rif | 3:17 |
| 5. | Cafe Noir | 2:01 |
| 6. | Market Square | 1:49 |
| 7. | Tangerines in a Basket | 3:24 |
| 8. | On the Terrace | 3:21 |
| 9. | Patisserie | 2:13 |
Credits
All songs written and performed by Sarah Hardiman.
Mixed and mastered by Mikey Young.
Design by Carl Breitkreuz.
