Civilized Creature returns with Requited, another offering of symmetrical melodies in asymmetrical beats. On this eighth LP as Civilized Creature, Ryan Lane—the wizard behind the curtain—seems in his element yet again after a string of consistent records, as poised and committed as I’ve ever heard him.
Similar Not Same Old
On one hand, Requited sounds like what we’ve come to expect from Civilized Creature—extremely competent and meticulously intentional downtempo indietronica with enough spunk and funk to distinguish it from its coffeehouse peers (e.g., Bonobo, Bibio, Four Tet, or Photay). Reassuringly, damped electric guitars plucking transient, antiphonal melodies still show up throughout the record. But, even from the beginning, this staple of the Civilized Creature sound feels more free, less burdened. The stutter beat in track one, “When I Call,” teases the pocket almost to total frustration. But it works exactly as it needs to, and it knows it. It evokes the exact emotional tension Lane sings about. Lane has dressed his production in even more quirk, and yet somehow it seems even more willing to dance in public.
This subtle development in production compliments but does not compare to the biggest distinguishing feature in Requited, which appears in Lane’s singing voice: there’s simply more of it. You get hints in previous albums that the man can sing, but he regularly hides this behind effects or simply omits centering or prolonging sung parts, relying instead on instrumentals and spoken word to give him voice. “Even when my cover’s blown,” he says on the first track. It is. And it’s what all of us suspected: the man has pipes. Lane puts his full weight on his vocals by track eight, (“Through It All”), and his singing voice carries the whole song. Lane apparently found greater confidence and self-acceptance during a year (and counting) where most of us have felt singularly deflated. Which is strange, isn’t it? As I listened through the first time, I wondered how that worked.
