OurStage

Lucy Bland's debut, full-length release, Down to Sea Level, is a soul-warming balm for the endlessly rainy days of their hometown Seattle, Wash. Delicate, electronic beeps and pops mingle with melodic strings and singer Cat Biell's cozy vocals. It's the sonic equivalent of lazing in a gently swaying hammock, under a cloudless day at the beach...

PopMatters Review! "Seattle’s Lucy Bland soaks up its city’s atmosphere of sea and sky on Down to Sea Level. Cat Biell (vocals, acoustic guitar), Katie Mosehauer (violin, cello), Tim Stedman (keyboards) and Todd Wallar (electronics, guitars) paint the Puget Sound in a watercolor wash of somber strings and rainy refrains. "Blueprints" is the gorgeous centerpiece of this charming album. It’s a cozy afternoon curled up with a cup of tea in a favorite chair by the window, watching the drops cascading down the pane, waiting for the rain to stop. Despite its sometimes cloudy outlook, Down to Sea Level is less a winter storm than a springtime sprinkling; it’s an invigorating, thirst-quenching cloudburst of liquid sunshine."

"For their first full-length, Seattle quintet Lucy Bland whips up a gentle dream-pop soufflé. The tasteful ingredients include traditional instrumentation, silvery strings, glitchy sound effects, and Cat Biell’s whispery words. The self-released album results suggest a return to the halcyon days of Lois and Velocity Girl. The soft-spoken singer/guitarist–solo artist Carrie Biell’s twin sister–is joined by Tim Stedman (keyboards), Todd Wallar (guitar, programming), Katie Mosehauer (violin, cello), and Chris Icasiano (drums). As the title indicates, Biell’s lyrics concern nature in all its melancholy moods. At its worst, Down to Sea Level offers the kind of serene, well produced sounds that wouldn’t be out of place in a corporate coffee chain or high-end boutique, book-ended by Norah Jones on one side and Tegan & Sara on the other. Like the tuneful work of those talented women, it’s hard to imagine this delicate disc (a follow-up to Lucy Bland’s First Recital EP) distracting even the most easily irritated customer. On the other hand, these soothing melodies could just as easily comfort and transport a frazzled wage slave after a hard day’s work. Biell reinforces that altruistic impression with affirmative lyrics like, "Sometimes we are weightless/ Sometimes we are fearless." Two years in the making, Lucy Bland’s long-awaited debut illustrates the notion that one person’s inoffensive soundtrack can just as easily be another’s mood-restoring panacea." -

"Tight, mannered pop rolled out with just enough of an off-handed touch. I like the languid feel as well as the keen sense of melody. On the whole, this works like a charm."

"With [Cat Biell’s] whiskey ice cream sweet, smooth, and bracing vocals, her tiny harshly existential bubble observations are cloud-carried by sweet cotton burbles of keyboard mirth and mellow, with perfect blue music....Music is rarely this pleasurable, meaningful, and soothing on tracks like "Centuries" and the Suzanne Vega-ish "Streaker." A very charming debut EP."

“Lucy Bland are go-getters with immense talent. They are following up their debut EP Lucy Bland’s First Recital with Down To Sea Level this month. “It’s been a long journey on the sea…” but it seems as though Bland has their course set and steady.”

“[Lucy Bland] has talent when it comes to crafting lazy, introspective music ...the entire album molds together perfectly to form a lush and relaxing listening experience.”

What makes Lucy Bland’s music refreshing to jaded ears is the textural contrast of electronic beats and effects with swoony violin and cello, the unapologetic sweetness of pledges like “May Say” and the nostalgic “Rewrite,” and the philosophical poetry best expressed in “Blueprints”...