CD: Sennen – Lost Harmony

Lost Harmony is the third album from Norwich to London transplants Sennen. Although they’re pretty much an under the radar band, it’s been made with David M Allen, The Cure’s long-term producer. Their songs have been heard on the soundtracks of One Tree Hill and True Blood. Obviously, they’re doing something right.

Steeped in melancholy, Lost Harmony is defined by the insistent “Vultures”, which is about Nikolai Kondratiev, the Russian economist who evolved the concept that capitalist economies are defined by cycles of boom and bust.

That the best entry point into Lost Harmony is “Vultures”, its fourth cut, suggests a lack of sureness about wanting to instantly make an impact. It’s in keeping with Sennen’s quiet yet distracted air. This attractive contrast runs throughout the concise Lost Harmony – they could never turn in an anthem. Their aural sigh has an undertone of steel. “My youth was wasted” they declare on “Standing Still”. British quartets with guitars that eschew the big music are usually milque-toast singer-songwriters, out-and-out revivalists (Britpop, shoegazing, whatever) or any combination of the off-the-shelf, from Radiohead and Coldplay downwards. Sennen don’t fit in with current tropes.

It’s probably a bit late to be describing music as post-shoegazing, but that’s what Lost Harmony brings to mind. Although the layers of gauze brought by guitar effects are largely missing, there’s a lilt and drift evoking the pre-Grunge point when the Thames Valley was littered with inward-looking wallflowers with guitars. Taking their name from a Ride B-side nudges this impression along even further. But Sennen aren’t in thrall to what inspired them in the first place. Given time, Lost Harmony will suck you in.

Watch the video for "Vultures" from Sennen’s Lost Harmony