OurColony.net

3/4 fearless

Customer Rating:
3 1/2

A relic from the brief period when trip-hop displayed artistic value, this interesting import compliments excess and campiness with diverse, sometimes astute production.

Enough With the Voice Processing

Customer Rating:
This had the potential to be a great album. It's spoiled, however, by what I'm certain is the bizarre electronic processing of Rhodes' voice. If you listen on a good stereo, it's obvious that the harmonic envelope of her vocals has been truncated and shifted upwards in the frequency spectrum, leaving her sounding like a petulant chipmunk. Vocal processing can make an average voice sound wonderful, but it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to use it to make a wonderful voice sound terrible--and as their first album demonstrates, Rhodes has a wonderful voice. And it's something that gets worse with repeated listenings rather than better. I'm afraid to buy their last two albums out of fear that I'll have to listen to that ghastly electro-voice again. I listen to this album in spite of the cringe-inducing vocals--there's still some excellent songwriting, arranging and playing on it. But Lamb deserves a big thumbs down for one of the worst production decisions I've ever heard. Best heard on your computer or in your car where it just sounds as if her voice has become somwhat more shrill--the better your audio system, the more it's likely to drive you nuts. And I still can't understand why people call this trip-hop. Drum & Bass plus a white female vocalist does not a trip-hop album make.

Masterpiece

Customer Rating:
All Lamb's albums are awesome, but this one sums them up best. This was the first time I'd heard Lamb (besides the K&D remix of Trans-Fatty Acid), and it was totally unlike anything else I had experienced. It was so intense and different. Every listen opened up new tracks that I hadn't noticed before, and Fear Of Fours has the most cohesive album structure that I have ever come across. Lamb wakes you up with Soft Mistake and Little Things, takes you on a wild journey with Ear Parcel and Five, and finally says good night with Lullaby, with killer tracks like B-line, All In Your Hands, Softly and Fly thrown in along the way. Fear of Fours is an absolute masterpiece, and is definately the place to start your love affair with Lamb. Happy listening

Great record, probably their best yet

Customer Rating:
Andy Barlow and Louise Rhodes continue exploring interesting soundscapes after their intriguing self-titled debut. While not as risky and adventurous as that album, "Fear of Fours" still brings something new and provides a rich listening experience. In fact, it`s probably the duo`s best record to date, offering a strong and creative mix of trip-hop, drum n`bass, downtempo and electronica. Louise`s voice sounds a little weird at first, but after a couple of songs it doesn`t matter much since these compositions are always absorving and engaging, setting an unique and futuristic mood. There's a lot of good stuff to find here, like the heartfelt-but-not-corny ballad "Softly", the strange and addictive "Fly", the smooth instrumental "Five" or the epic "Bonfire". It expertly mixes light and darkness, the emotional and the mechanical, providing a fresh and original record that deserves more recognition. This gives "pop" a good name.

Great CD

Customer Rating:
I first heard about this group on a local radio station, the group's name was not mentioned since I was listening to the station's "Extended Trip" show: they play 3 hours of chill-out or Acid Jazz music with no commercials. When I heard the Filla Brazilla mix of Cottonwool, I was hooked from that point (on Lamb and Filla Brazilla) after a week of research led me to the groups name.

I like this CD alot more than their previous one (where Cottonwool comes from). This is a mixed bag of different styled tunes to suit a wide variety of tastes. My favorite is the one that does not feature the lead singer's vocals, the one that starts off slow, featuring the trumpet. One of the greatest tunes ever.

By the way, I like her voice, she could be ALOT worse = Britney (the devil) Spears anyone?