All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors - Turning Into Small (1998)

Shoegaze / noise rock band from Ringwood, NJ.

Another of the many fine American releases that show that dream pop didn't die, it just switched continents, Turning Into Small finds All Natural blissing out with the best of them. The cascading guitars aren't just reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine (though generally with a lighter, brighter tone), but A. R. Kane, early Boo Radleys, Kitchens of Distinction, and many others. Those who demand a little something more original might be better off with Flowchart's Cumulus Mood Twang, say, but as it stands, Turning Into Small is manna from heaven for those who value plenty of feedback, sweetly delivered. "You Can Never Tell" starts everything out right on that front, with extra instrumentation here and there adding to the calm chaos, and from there the group tries out various approaches, shuffling funk beats, swoony psych drones, and whatever else will fill the bill. For all that the genre has a perceived problem with direct melodies, All Natural sneak in some memorable riffs along the way without calling attention to them, like on "Lattershed," which has some definite hints of New Order. The intense, repetitive core melody on "Snowflake Eye," meanwhile, adds to the low-key nervous psychosis of the song as a whole, making it an underrated highlight. Often it's individual moments or elements that really send everything to heaven, often created on keyboards on top of the guitars. "Your Imagination" is pleasant enough, but with the slow up-and-down synth wash starts taking over toward the end, it becomes vast, spiraling, a candy-colored sonic heaven. Other instances where keys add just as much as the feedback include "When Things Come Falling," one of the strongest numbers on the album with its ever-increasing wall of sound, and the overlaid work and sudden to-the-fore notes on "Emergency Turn Off."