Singles

We Fell To Earth - Deaf

Dan Round 26/11/2009

Rating: 2/5

We Fell To Earth move on from their fairly well received self-titled debut album with “Deaf”, an entirely new song that didn't feature on the long-player. The single differs wildly in style from the album too, perhaps indicating a firm break from the past for the duo. Whereas the album was largely based around brooding trip-hop, seeming to follow in the path of UNKLE (band member/producer Richard File was part of the “Psyence Fiction” outfit from 1999-2008), this new single shows a complete departure from downbeat electronica, with a radical shift of style.

Wendy Rae Fowler's dramatic, ghostly wailings are backed with sweeping, delicate Sigur Ros type arrangements to produce a pastoral feel; complete with pounding drums and chiming guitars, WFTE really do set the scene for a potentially 'huge' cinematic new sound. The risky leap of style, however, doesn't really pay off. File's lead vocals may make attempts at creating ethereal ambience but instead he sounds bland and tepid, while the duo's harmonies are forgettable, failing to craft the emotive grandeur and glorious atmospherics the lush instrumentation and shiny production suggests they so desperately strive for.

We Fell To Earth are certainly ambitious, and they really do try to soar with this new single. Instead, however, they are left struggling to successfully break free from their old genre of music. It will be interesting to see what direction File and Fowler pursue after this uneasy affair.