British ears, however, will hear great swathes of My Bloody Valentine in the Scene's muted vocals and sliding walls of sound.
Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork Media referred to the songs as a "dozen slices of stylish, sophisticated electro-pop, crisp tracks that move between the fizzy and the woozy, all anchored by Annie's breathy (sometimes almost muted) vocals".
II's final track--and, for me, the strongest on the album, featured above--sets itself apart from the rest with acoustic strums and muted vocals, delivering a cool and haunting new sound, and new take on the long-serving grunge genre.
We first compared the reproduction success between muted and vocal males.
"Laser Beam Makeup" features a bluesy soul melody, muted background vocal harmonies and spoken word lyrics reminiscent of "Dead Man's Curve". The melody segues to singing and an industrial rock melody.
During recording, Solveig muted the vocals and just played the instrumentals, then Madonna sang the song.
For parts of the performance, they completely muted the vocals playing through the speakers, but it sounded so good through MIXhalo that it took a while for anyone to notice.
But Buskin declared the vocal "muted," Shanoff considered the mix "too separated," and Alexander called the sound "a little too clean".
Julian Siegel's lightness of touch and melodic originality and Mark Nightingale's vocal-toned muted trombone are the centrepieces of Above the Fourteenth Range.
Recorded in a day, it's an intense, mostly solo affair, with Kater's banjo and rich voice supported by bass, muted trumpet and backing vocals.
