Couch Figur 5

• Words: Tomas Palermo
• Label: Morr Music
• XLR8R Rating: /10

Munich instrumentalists Couch provide a cool update to classic, moody, dream-rock groups like Bailter Space or Chapterhouse. Couch's dense, melancholic sound also echoes that of Ulrich Schnauss (had he been born in Chapel Hill adoring a Strat rather than in Berlin with a laptop) and fits in well with Morr's indie-pop love affair with electronic music. Couch's fine songs amble like a West Coast-bound Amtrak train gliding through the Plains states as grassland and grain silo landscapes shudder by. Yes, some chin-stroking is inevitable when listening to Figur 5, but the evolving layers of melody also allow for eyes-closed rocking out-not a bad pastime if you ask me.