- Cale Parks, a Brooklyn producer and the drummer in Yeasayer, made his debut on Have A Killer Time in 2013 with the pretty if underwhelming N1. Lagoon Fool is a more complete exploration of the same Steve Reich- and Arvo Pärt-indebted style, its elegiac mood benefitting from being fleshed out across several movements. Following his grandmother's death, the EP was apparently made using field recordings from his grandparents' Tennessee farm prior to its sale.
With its drama-laced pads and flickering keys, "Big Hills" is a more caffeinated take on N1's title track. It's Lagoon Fool's highlight. "Appalachia" was started on the front porch of the farmhouse during Parks' final visit there. Though it's very pretty, the contrast between deep pools of bass and dynamic keys keeps it from being too dewy-eyed. "Jade" dials back the pads to reveal a relatively spare palette of Eastern-sounding keys. The winsome title track, meanwhile, is well executed but inessential incidental music, and serves mainly to emphasise the many points of progression elsewhere on the rest of the record. A 12-inch-only remix of it by Australian producer Bell Towers fares better by adding some smooth background propulsion, but it struggles to completely break free of the original's slightly mundane feel.
TracklistA1 Appalachia
A2 Big Hills
A3 Jade
B1 Lagoon Fool
B2 Lagoon Fool (Bell Towers Remix)