Latitudes – Part Island

28th May 2019 0 By Suzie Rottencrotch

Part Island (Debemur Morti Productions) is the 4th Album from Hertfordshire based Atmospheric metal band Latitudes. Fine purveyors of Introspective Shoegaze, they’ve gradually made the shift since their debut from being instrumental to having a strong vocal presence. Part Island is the first to feature vocals on every track and this shift is a very welcome one indeed because the vocals are an absolute highlight of the album.

From an instrumental origin, it’s clear that Latitudes know exactly how to make their music do the talking, and Part Island does that with great finesse, forging melancholic sonic landscapes. Opening track Underlie is particularly beautiful, with breathless and vocals and gentle guitar/piano.

Moorland is the Sea, is a deep hypnotic number with incredibly rich production which has the head nodding away in time with the beat. There’s a grandiose quality of the songs which reflect the nature of the landscape which inspired this. When tracks like Dovestone hit then we start to feel the extent of their power as the gentle waves of sound start to crash against us like waves in a storm. The album continually building in power and impact through Fallowness, before dropping back to the calmness of the opening track, only to bring back the heavier side for even greater impact.

The Great Past brings some nice folk elements and greater emphasis on tremolo picking into the mix to really bring up the tension to dizzying levels, making you just want to throw your arms out wide and embrace the earth. Title Track Part Island brings the journey to a close, bringing back elements from throughout the album, with a definite feel of God is an Astronaut.

Part Island is musically complex and the juxtaposition of the rich musical composition and the soaring and beautiful vocals, bring to mind Post-metal contemporaries such as Leprous or to a lesser extent Alcest. There’s a delicate fragility to the soft sumptuous vocals which float effortlessly over the fuzz and massive depth to the songwriting and structure which makes it a fascinating/magical listen. Not so much an album of songs as an experience a journey which is well worth the experience, a life-affirming magical listen which satisfies after a great many listens.

Score: 8/10