Music: Levinhurst

Levinhurst
House by the Sea

What Are Records, 2007

The first post-Cure project to actually produce a second record, Levinhurst—the brainchild of original Cure drummer Lol Tolhurst and his wife Cindy Levinson—has endured to follow up the electronic delights of their debut Perfect Life. Where the first one paid homage to the clean electro of Kraftwerk, this one finds Lol and Cindy doing a bit of soul mining and inevitably harkens back to those emotionally vivid early Cure albums.

Cindy Levinson’s voice is a very interesting thing to describe, possessing a timbre so clean and pure that many of those long phrases and notes verge on the transcendental. These songs, to hear her delivery, seem so much more personal than the bulk of their debut—"I Am" and "Never Going to Dream Again" are standouts. It’s plain to see, also, that Lol’s programming prowess has grown by leaps and bounds from the last record. Murky synth lines bubble under clean rhythms and occasional sprinkles of electronic noise break any chance of monotony with ease. The end of "Beautiful Lie" is gorgeous and heady in its aquatic suggestion, waves breaking against craggy rocks. "Heart and Soul", by contrast, is a study in minimalism, relying on a arpeggiated synthesizer part for its rhythmic motion.

Thematically solid from start to finish (did I mention all those watery flourishes and shadowy scenes are part of the concept?), this album ends with a title track and the same kind of resolution that concludes that legendary 1981 record Faith—in spite of all the heartache and uncertainty, still something remains. In this case it’s the strong bonds of family and home, and to account for the third person mentioned in the lyric, their son Gray contributes guitar for this tune.

Hopefully, this artistic pairing will continue to endure, too, and continue to grow in their craft with strong albums such as House by the Sea.