Atmospheric Disturbances – Casey Fallen (In Fall Productions) reviewed by Dave Franklin

If the English post punk genre created a sound track to the grim northern back streets or beige suburban prison of a generation looking for its place in a bewildering world, then Atmospheric Disturbances is the modern US equivalent. Drawing largely on soundscaping electronica rather than the angular guitar lines of its colonial cousins it nevertheless channels the same dark and bewildering thoughts of a lost generation, albeit one that has lost its grip on the elusive American Dream.

More dreamlike in delivery the message becomes one of melancholy reflection rather than angst; tales of broken dreams and displacement rather than anger and revolution but despite its subtleties, or maybe because of them, just as powerful in its effect. Musically disarming due to it’s achingly beautiful and haunting, smooth late night feel, it carries a sucker punch in lyric and intent. For all its ambient and emotive qualities, this is the sound track to the dark underbelly of the glitz and glamour of the big city. This is the juxtaposition of looking out through the neon glare of your cheap hotel window and seeing the Hollywood sign standing proud like a false idol, this is the rich businessman dropping a coin into the cup of a homeless would-be musician, this album is a film in it’s own right. Glorious, cinematic, dark and broken, a brilliant achievement.