Artist: Leama & Moor
Title: Common Ground
Label: Lost Language
By: Chad Harnish | 28 July 2006
Tracklist:

1. Waterdrop
2. Hillside Climb
3. Coming Of Age
4. Neon Approach
5. Everything Matters
6. Forever
7. New Division
8. Cry For Help
9. Calling
10. Waiting
11. Communications

Leama & Moor "Common Ground"

Marty Smith and Andy Moor are Leama and Moor. For the past 5 years they have been making a big name for themselves on the remix circuit. They delivered outstanding remixes for top artists like Orbital , Brian Eno, Space Manouevres, and Starkid among many others. After more than a year of hard production work, they are now releasing their debut lp, “Common Ground.”

With only 2, maybe 3 tracks that would work on a dancefloor, this lp is meant most for the headphone listener. “Common Ground.” is layered with ambience and spirituality. “Common Ground.” Fuses very different sounds together in a pretty seamless way keeping the flow going and maintaining a consistent feel across the entire lp.
“Even though the tracks are made separately in the studio , the album is written as one long session creating a feeling like an artist-set with a journey and meaning to it , so that the listener can be taken on a more interesting journey rather than just playing separate tracks ” notes Leama.
You can hear the journey starting wth Waterdrop, the first track on the debut. It is a passionate ambient piece that is beaming with angelic vocals. In fact, most of this album is beaming with angelic vocals.
The lp also features the spacey dubbed out “Everything Matters” which was originally released as a single earlier this year on Lost Language. You may remember the very popular Matthew Dekay remix.

‘New Division,’ one of my personal favorites, rides on slow breaks while dark bass elements brood beneath a beautiful ethereal layer making it a truly tough and gritty ballad. Again Leama & Moor are demonstrating their skills at transitioning from smooth blissful sounds to harsh and brash without projecting displacement.

‘Cry For Help’ took me by complete surprise when I first heard it. To describe this to you, I would suggest it sounds like an 80’s power ballad. Careful though, this song tends to grow on you. Its intro is way too long, but once you get past that, Leama & Moor let out some wicked sounds.

“Waiting“ doesn’t have quite the originality that the rest of the album has. It may be that I am burnt out a bit on Jan Johnston, but I don’t hear much different in this track than most of her earlier work.

And with “Communication.” Leama & Moor close down “Common Ground” at the same tempo and mood that they started with. This track has a very sunrise feel to it, if there is such a sound.

All in all, “Common Ground” has earned a place in my top 5 LP for 2006. It is a very good release for Lost Language who have an upcoming album for Lustral and by the end of the year will release a collection of rare and unreleased Tilt material.