All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors

Straight Blue Line (Gern Blandsten)
by Tim Den

This is a collection of the now-defunct group’s three 7″s, along with some previously unreleased bonus tracks. It’s a shame that I never heard them before they called it quits, cuz All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors weave some serious reverb magic into their guitars. Unlike traditional shoegazer bands that use walls of distortion to enunciate visceral dreaminess, this band’s bopping beats and quiet arpeggios evoke the same experience but draw it out with different tools.

Sometimes single notes are elongated with effects until it becomes this huge, overlapping sound that encapsulates the entire mood of the tune. It’s not an easy feat to make what’s essentially noise into an atmosphere enhancer, but All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors pull it off. They turn up the heat during certain moments, but understand when to revert back to their patented (and potent formula). They will be missed.
(PO Box 356 River Edge, NJ 07661)