Does It Look Like I'm Here?

Does It Look Like I'm Here? is a 2010 album from the band Emeralds. It contains a mix of tracks previously released as 7-inch singles and new material.[2] Pitchfork placed it at number 36 on its list of "The Top 50 Albums of 2010",[9] and number 139 on its list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s".[10]

Does It Look Like I'm Here?
Studio album by
Emeralds
ReleasedJune 8, 2010 (2010-06-08)
Recorded2009-2010
GenreAmbient
Length61:53
LabelEditions Mego
Emeralds chronology
Emeralds
(2009)		 Does It Look Like I'm Here?
(2010)		 Just to Feel Anything
(2012)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.0/10[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Drowned in Sound8/10[3]
Fact3.5/5[4]
Pitchfork8.3/10[5]
PopMatters9/10[6]
Resident Advisor4.0/5[7]
Uncut[8]

Composition

Does It Look Like I'm Here? contains the same new age, krautrock and kosmische styles that were a part of their previous albums.[7] However, in the words of journalist Derek Miller, it is much more "sharp", concise and pop music-influenced than their previous works.[7] In categorising the album's overall style, critic Rick Anderson of Allmusic labeled it a "slightly uneasy borderland between ambient music and avant-garde experimentation."[2] He compared the album's soundscape to that of 1970s electronic pop and synthesized classical music, consisting of slightly cheesy-sounding keyboard arpeggiations," "waveform generators," and "sweet-and-sour analog synth sounds."[2] He called some of the record's material, including "Candy Shoppe," a more enthusiastic version of the works of Fripp & Eno.[2]

Anderson compared "It Doesn't Arrive" to Brian Eno's Music for Airports.[2]

Miller noted McGuire guitar work to be the focal point of the record's escapism aspect.[7] An example is the "slow, wistful bliss" of "Candy Shoppe," a track with an atmosphere set by McGuire's guitar sounds and numerous synthesizer textures present in the background.[7] The guitar also makes up a lot of space on "The Cycle of Abuse" until "cloudy drones" and groan voice whispers come into the track.[7]

Featuring dark-toned synth arpeggios and frantic guitars, the songs "Double Helix" and the title track were compared by Miller to the works of Dominick Argento.[7]

Songs like the rough-feeling "Summerdata," which Miller described as "a snowy blast of static like bits of data forging sound," recall the same noise music and drone music styles that were on the group's previous works.[7] Anderson called it "intensely involving despite being largely arrhythmic."[2]

As Miller described "Genetic," "It opens with a pulsating analog synth melody and ascendant vocals that sound like the closing hymn from a much distant church—resounding, rejoicing and mourning all at once—before McGuire's slippery, Gottsching-indebted guitar anchors its psychedelic swirl. And yet, even as it pushes into the dense wanderlusts of their past, there's a distinct concern for melody."[7]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Candy Shoppe"4:45
2."The Cycle of Abuse"4:59
3."Double Helix"3:03
4."Science Center"4:39
5."Genetic"12:08
6."Goes By"4:11
7."Does It Look Like I'm Here?"7:29
8."Summerdata"4:49
9."Shade"4:27
10."It Doesn't Arrive"3:35
11."Now You See Me"3:40
12."Access Granted"4:04

Personnel

Adapted from the Does It Look Like I'm Here? liner notes.[11]

References

  1. "Does it Look Like I'm Here? by Emeralds reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  2. Anderson, Rick. "Does It Look Like I'm Here? – Emeralds". AllMusic. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  3. Gibb, Rory (June 2, 2010). "Album Review: Emeralds – Does It Look Like I'm Here?". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  4. Jahdi, Robin (May 19, 2010). "Emeralds: Does It Look Like I'm Here?". Fact. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  5. Sherburne, Philip (June 9, 2010). "Emeralds: Does It Look Like I'm Here?". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  6. Gabriele, Timothy (September 15, 2010). "Emeralds: Does It Look Like I'm Here?". PopMatters. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  7. Miller, Derek (June 4, 2010). "Emeralds – Does It Look Like I'm Here?". Resident Advisor. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  8. "Emeralds: Does It Look Like I'm Here?". Uncut: 106. Pastoral melodies gurgle from orderly banks of synths, while tracks like 'Genetic' highlight Mark McGuire's otherworldly guitar shimmer.
  9. "The Top 50 Albums of 2010". Pitchfork. December 16, 2010. p. 2. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  10. "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s". Pitchfork. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  11. Does It Look Like I'm Here? (sleeve). Emeralds. Editions Mego. 2010.CS1 maint: others (link)
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