Building Off Of A Better Foundation

According to the current state of indie music, the two extraordinarily popular subgenres of music consist of 1970s glam rock and dewy-eyed pop favored by imitation surfers.  As for the Danish pair Lydmor & Bon Homme, they fit comfortably between the two.

Their newest record, Seven Dreams of Fire, dances back and forth between the two subgenres, transitioning from laid back, dreamy electronica to glittery, accelerated pop. The album is, however, nothing short of adequate. Is this a record that sounds like no other? No. Is it a record where the band explore new sounds, challenge the idea of gender, or experiment with art rock? Not at all. Is it a record that one can simply turn on as background music and go about his or her day while it whispers in the background? Perhaps.

The one redeeming quality about this record is the voices of Lydmor and Bon Homme. They both have adopted the voices of other singers, but they do it in such a way that does not seem like an imitation, but an exaltation of others. Lydmor has a pure voice much like Imogen Heap, while Bon Homme channels his best David Bowie. Both voices combine to create an enchanting harmony.

These two are not doing much in the way of creating unusual music or even music that will be remembered in the future. One thing that they do in fact do well is to borrow from other genres and build off of a foundation that has already been laid out for them. While they do create music that is unoriginal, they manage to take what has already been done and put their own spin on it. So many times, one will listen to a band from a genre that has been so exhausted, that the mere thought of listening to anything resembling that sound, makes one feel physically ill. Lydmor & Bon Homme, luckily, do not solicit such feelings.