Lovely Guitar Pop Impressions // Cantaloup is the one man shoegaze Pop outfit of German guitarist Thomas Peters. He released his first EP “Tonight It Shows” via Aerotone and it soon became one of the Netlabel’s most successful records. Naturally, hopes for the successor were high. While the ingredients are roughly the same, “On A Hill Not Far Away” beats the debut with ease.

The first Cantaloup EP never really got me. The sound was right, all the ideas were there. But somehow Thomas Peters didn’t manage to make his melodies stick and consequently buried them in reverb. For “On A Hill Not Far Away” , Peters cleaned up sound and songwriting a lot. The reverb is still there but guitars and especially Eva Paul’s vocals don’t drown within it anymore. The music cleaned up so well that I thought about getting some beginner guitar lessons at Takelessons.com so I could play some of Peter’s music.

<img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-853” src=”https://phlow-magazine.com/images/cantaloup.jpg”

The sentiment changes from lovely to lugubrious, and i like the lovely songs better. The first half of the album is formidable without a doubt, most notably “When My Girl Walks Through This Garden”.  The eight minute “Crooked Rain” (with buddy Hoodwink) at the end is worth a mention as well (I was excepting a Pavement cover version!). More experimental, closer to his old Postrock band Item maybe, with a impulsive bass guitar, moog flutes and chimes, this tune makes me impatiently await Cantaloup’s next moves. High hopes, once again.

MP3 Pop Music Download

Download: Cantaloup - “On A Hill Not Far Away” ZIP

Release: Cantaloup - “On A Hill Not Far Away”

Netlabel: www.aerotone.de**

** Artist-Website: www.myspace.com/cantaloup