Victoria Park is the new album from Fog Lake, aka Newfoundland-based Aaron Powell. Powell has been making atmospheric ambient bedroom pop for a number of years now, and has more recently become a member of the ever-impressive Orchid Tapes roster. Like all of his output, Victoria Park has a layered, slow-swirling atmosphere that conjures a sense of introversion and quiet dingy solitude.
‘Renegade’ is a placid intro, just Powell’s hushed voice and piano and atmospheric background vocals, the vague lyrics dealing with old mistakes and current worries, while ‘Andy’, a short and sweet track that clocks in at under two minutes. sets gentle, almost whispering, vocals in front of layers of instrumentation. ‘Shanty Town’ is a slight change of direction with its looped drum sample, athough Powell’s morose vocals are still present, creating (in a typically opaque manner) a sense of regret and refusal to move on. Next up is ‘Antidote’, a lo-fi pop song which is all slapped drums and minimalist off-centre poetry:
“chew me out of this hole dear
ward me off with amethyst
half built walls still setting in
sold my soul to the devil yeah”
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=126330908 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=73122941]
The title track is piano-led with earnest vocals, a sad song but one with something intangibly upbeat, some glimmering glow that suggests things aren’t all bad. Following that is ‘Running Out Fast’, with its echoey vocals and clinking percussion and dreamy vocals gliding through the gloom. ‘No Innocents (Bad Moon)’ is slow and winding, inching along in an eerie, shadowy ambience, and ‘Autumn 1998’ is led by acoustic guitar and sits on a backdrop of minimal piano and atmospherics, ending in an extended outro that buzzes and hums and whines. ‘Disposable Comatose’ sounds like a dream pop Coma Cinema track played at half pace, and ‘Bury My Dead Horses’ has chilled-out shambling rock and roll drums and sad mumbling vocals, eventually building with squealing electric guitars, as if something has come unloose and broken through the thick murk. ‘Midnight Cross’ is sad and sedate, with breathy floaty background vocals and an audio sample. It’s a lovely track and feels like sweetly sad, like a dream about a loved who has been dead for a long time. Closer ‘Dog Years’ is a slow and melancholy finale, with synth lines which swing around in slow motion.
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=126330908 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3353079112]
Victoria Park is perhaps Fog Lake’s most accomplished effort to date, a complex collage of nebulous angst and heartfelt nostalgia, although not the rosy golden kind you might be used to. The cassettes are sold out, but you can still get it on a pay-what-you-want basis via the Fog Lake Bandcamp page.