Sea Gown
Self-Titled
Self-Released
Street: 12.09.11
Sea Gown = Dntel + Statistics
It’s a very taut rope to walk when trying to craft a successful downtempo/techno-pop crossbreed album. Electronica one-man-band Peter Densmore tests his sense of balance with his project, Sea Gown. The album shoehorns with the reverberant opener, “Position 41˚46 N. 50˚14 W,” which proves to be a satisfying predecessor to the springy and new wave-ish “Moon Dogs,” which features resonant bass synth reminiscent of James Figurine (Dntel). As soon as the album hits the halfway mark, it begins to fumble its footing. Densmore’s stubbornly bleating vocals wear thin, song structures start to recycle and textures stop growing outside the boundaries of uniformity (four of the later tracks open with the exact same metronomic beat).  Sea Gown is halcyon enough to lull and palpable enough to swoon listeners, but the album can’t steady the listener’s focus if it can’t steady itself.