Seriously, F.S. Blumm is a fucking maniac. This dude shreds. Seriously. It's just one solid wall of fuzzed-out power chords stumbling over drunken screams that seem to emanate from the depths of rock and roll hell...

Excuse me. What I meant to say was this: F.S. Blumm writes very, very, very quiet, introspective, acoustic tracks adorned with a bit of electronic frippery. His songs, while pleasant, are so gentle and unobtrusive that it's easy to forget that Zweite Meer is even playing. There are exceptions to this rule, of course (not the pleasantness; just the forgettability). "Oberer", with its complex, ringing middle section, sounds a bit like a ratcheted-down Sufjan Stevens; similarly, the bell line on "Langen" adds some much-needed melodic oomph to a track that would otherwise consist mostly of syncopated guitar strum. However, while some tracks, like "Lunten", wear their swirling minimalism well, many of Meer's songs don't have enough "there" there to evolve beyond the level of quiet, introspective background music. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with creating this sort of ambient effect, but Blumm isn't really ambient enough to fully fit that genre, either. While he's hard to pigeonhole, it's also tough to devote much attention to him.

Everyone can stand a bit more gentleness in his or her life. For the occasions when you feel like kicking back with a favorite novel and some sleepytime tea, Blumm has your soundtrack.