True late-nite driving music
William Merrill | San Antonio, TX United States | 09/18/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If you heard the first Lanterna CD, this one's even better. Making use of loads of reverb on lingering electric and slide guitar tones to create a certain atmosphere, the Lanterna sound is ideal accompaniment for a drive down some lonely highway late at night. As with the first album, Elm Street is entirely made up of instrumentals. Most of them could be considered "rock," but it's rock like the slide guitar passages on Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." The guitar there was by James Calvin Wilsey; here it's Lanterna leader Henry Frayne on the frets. It's a guitar sound that conjures up the soul of the night, not in a spooky way, but in portraying nighttime's quiet and empty spaces. Another comparison would be '60s surf-rock instrumentals, but slowed way down so the notes are allowed to expand. Some of the tracks on Elm Street border on the "ambient" style, especially the spectral 12-minute closing cut, "Dog Days.""
Instrumental post-rock with a purpose
I am the | Live from Kolob | 11/27/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Light guitar melodies repeated over a sparse rhythm section give these songs a light, nimble feel. But the chord changes and effects leaven this mood with a dose of melancholy. The earlier tracks on the album are the best, and track two is worth the price of the CD. Excellent background music for light reading, good conversation, or kicking back with the headphones."
Beautifully boring
IRate | 03/15/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"3 1/2
Frayne is a pro at walking a fine line between spirited and lifeless gently-reverbed guitar instrumentals, and Elm Street is no exception. There is a bit of variety here, although forays into electronica feel more contrived than Lanterna's patented desert highway strumming. Still ES survives intact on the right side of a quality release."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
