Album Review: Lost And Safe by The Books

On their third full-length release, Lost and Safe, the Books show that they are back stronger than ever and from the beginning are subtly pushing new forms. Still present in the Books' song structures are string work and found sounds, but the inclusion of vocals from the bandmembers themselves gives Lost and Safe a depth that was only hinted at on Thought for Food and Lemon of Pink. The use of more vocals is never overbearing and works well with the other elements of speech, at times completing sentences or thoughts of particular samples -- the lyrics are printed with the sample text included as well.

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The term "cinematic" is oft-overused in music journalism, mostly tacked onto a distinct brand of wordless, spaced out instrumental music that some assume, in its spare use of notes and percussion, allows ample room for narrative. Such a signifier may seem out of place when dealing with the work of Paul DeJong and Nick Zammuto, otherwise known as the Books. And yet over the course of their first two records, they've carved out warmly evocative, electro-acoustic movies – snippets of random dialogue cribbed from home movies, television broadcasts and film that, when intermingled with sampled strings and finely edited guitars, conjures very specific images of time and place.

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