Track Review: Gemini // Letting Up Despite Great Faults

While it can be argued that musician Mike Lee founded Letting Up Despite Great Faults in 2006, the full line-up seems to have as time progressed. Beginning in Los Angeles, California, Mike Lee and Kent Zambrana (bass) found each other via Craigslist. Upon moving to Austin, Texas, the duo met with Annah Fisette (guitar, keys and vocals) and Daniel Schmidt (drums) to become a four-piece. Beginning with acoustic sounds in the early 2000s, Letting Up Despite Great Faults adopts a dreamier, smoother and more dream-pop melody in their tunes. The latest addition to their discography is ‘Gemini’.

Having featured on NPR, Pitchfork, Sinusoidal Music, Brooklyn Vegan, Kid with a Vinyl and Kool Rock Radio, Letting Up Despite Great Faults is reaching an international audience in contemporary society. Yet, while there is a modern-day feel to their dream-pop bubble, an essence of older 80s-style post-punk is in the mix. A strong haziness is felt in the cinematic ambience but this is typical of really good synth-based shoegaze meets dream-pop. What I feel is most evident is the fuzziness of the melody smoothly flowing into an abstract soundscape.

While the melody is the prominent feature in ‘Gemini’, the hushed vocals add a sense of underlying sentimentality to the track. Letting Up Despite Great Faults share that the song is “…centred around the idea of forever. Friendships and loves can generate this enormous space yet it can be such a small feeling on a day to day basis that we easily and often forget how almost impossible it is to find someone that fits us…” The concept of forever is quite evident in this existential but also otherworldly track. One can become lost in the infinite tones repeatedly experiencing the sincere optimism underlying a melancholic theme. It’s beautiful in a fuzzy way and I cannot wait for more from this US-based group.