Los Angeles-based producer / songwriter Celeste Lear was rendered deaf in one ear as the result of a car accident, but she certainly hasn’ allowed this to hinder her musical explorations, having gone on to study musical theory in college and obtain a degree in sound engineering. Curiously enough, she also happens to be the granddaughter of one Bill Lear – the inventor of both the Lear Jet and the eight-track cassette deck. This second solo album on her own Boutique Electronique label “Looking Up From Underwater’ follows on the heels of her self-released debut “The Echo Inside’ and follows a period during which she’ been occupied composing and mixing music for various television networks and independent films. From the outset, the focus here falls distinctly upon trip-hop and downtempo electronic pop in a vein not dissimilar to that of fellow LA residents The Supreme Beings Of Leisure, Sneaker Pimps or Lamb – comparisons with the latter UK duo particularly being evoked by the way in which “Catch The Sun’ sees majestic live horns and Lear’ chanteuse vocals melding smoothly with drum and bass-informed rhythms, in what’s easily one of the stronger comparatively upbeat moments here.
“When The Sun Envies The Moon’ meanwhile sees delicately strummed guitars take centre stage as proceedings drift off through a wash of burbling synth textures and subtle beat programming, in an offering that leans considerably closer to the likes of Fiona Apple, albeit given far more of a leftfield electronic edge. In sharp contrast, “Entropy’ sees hints of gothy angst trailing in at the very edges as moody rock guitars curl their way around sparse, creeping electronic beats and Lear’ alt-rock tinged vocals, a stylistic trajectory that’s nicely followed by “Here With Me’, which sees Hands Upon Black Earth making a collaborative appearance on a brooding slice of industrial rock-edged triphop that sits somewhere between Nine Inch Nails and “Mezzanine’-era Massive Attack. While the use of somewhat dated sounding synths and trip-hop rhythms often represents the most problematic factor here, threatening occasionally to drag proceedings towards lukewarm listlessness, when she’ thinking outside the standard “Lamb / Morcheeba’ square, “Looking Up From Underwater’ sees Lear fashioning more than her fair share of intriguing downbeat rock / pop moments, and for some reason much of this album had me thinking of ex-NIN member Sean Beavan’ aesthetically quite similar 8mm project.
