Albums by this artist

Mirror (2000)

New Lands (1997)

Flying Saucer Attack

New Lands

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» JONATHAN COHEN | SENIOR EDITOR

Flying Saucer Attack New Lands Drag City, 1997 RiYL: Oval, My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3, Broadcast

Under the moniker Flying Saucer Attack, Bristol, England-based musician David Pearce has draped a curtain of woozy psychedelia over listeners on more than 10 albums, EPs and singles. New Lands continues FSA's lineage of compositions with noise as the primary element, alternately sounding like the soundtrack to a plane ride through complete blackness or listening to music under water.

"Present" churns with the sound of something being shredded as Pearce sings breathily in front of a barely audible rhythm, while "Up In Her Eyes" approximates what a passing train would sound like if it were looped and repeated again and again. Guitars are reduced to crystalline tones brought out of the cold by Pearce's warm, permeating singing.

"Respect" can only be ingested after groping through the fog of guitar screech and vinyl scratching. Scrape deep enough into the song's torso to hear some alien rendering of a guitar solo.

And while there's obviously some sense of meaning buried in these pieces, as with like-minded groups such as Crescent, Movietone and fellow Bristol natives Broadcast, Flying Saucer Attack's tonal manipulation creates music that stresses introspection over clarification.

JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"