Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations' Millennium General Assembly, The

Throne of the Third Heaven is the debut album for the indie/ folk outfit Le Loup, whose creative direction is dominated by Sam Simkoff. The sound is reminiscient of Sufjan Stevens, with somewhat soft male vocals, twangy banjo (is it repetitive to say 'twangy banjo'?), and highly emotional lyrics. However, the sound is much more experimental, incorporating more/ heavier drumming, electronic beats, electric guitar, and more layered vocals. Overall, I found the combination very pleasing, producing a nice variety and development of sound from the beginning to the end of the album.
Recommended tracks: 1,6,7,10

1. begins dominated by bare twangy, repetitive banjo, vocals are spoken words, progresses into more full sound with drumming, breathy background vocals

2. powerful, dominated by layered, repetitive vocals

3. bare drumming, builduing up to crescendo of layered vocals with electronic beats complementing

4. triumphant sounding vocals with twangy banjo

5. sounds of thunderstorm and electronic noises , no vocals

6. happy, electronic beat, clapping, begins with lone vocals, builds up to crescendo with layered , powerful vocals

7. twangy banjo, fun, with plinky xylophone

8. starts with organ, dark sounding vocals, then to more rock sounding drums and guitar, with a capella ending

9. solely breathy 'aaah' vocals, no instruments

10. quick, twangy banjo, urgent vocals,

11. alt version of #1, with electronics, vocals, quicker beat

12. lone picking of guitar over garbled electronic noises, then into banjo, digresses into distorted electronic noises and vocals