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Our Inventions is ultimately an album for modern nostalgists—folks who miss the crisp electronica and springy pop that originally put Morr Music on the map.
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Lali Puna’s Our Inventions mesmerizes with wonderfully layered and intricately constructed electronic sound manipulations that are tastefully crafted into experimental pop songs.
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What Lali Puna does, and it’s very apparent on Inventions, is to really use the simplicity of pop for all it’s worth.
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Q MagazineThe four-piece, fronted by Valerie Trebeljahr, rarely ever risk bereaking a sweat on Our Inventions. Theirs is a world where icy electro clicks and surges in sublime slow-mo. [May 2010, p.122]
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There are no real standouts, no (relatively) big hooks as heard on Scary World Theory's "Lowdown"; instead, there is a steady stream of hushed electronic pop songs that is as easy to enjoy as it is to ignore.
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The whole occasion is more intimate this time around, with vocalist/keyboardist Valerie Trebeljahr's sleepytime vocals nearly lulling you into a head-swaying trance.
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The arrangements stick to an effective coast-and-surge model of development: The tracks skim low and then tilt upward with the addition of a drum or synth part. It's a stock trick that works well, and Lali Puna use it with unusual tact.
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The album sticks very much to the template of ambient keyboard pop and an atmosphere of disappointment that past Lali Puna and Notwist albums traded in. That said, it's effective in what it sets out to accomplish and has a silent ambition that is fairly admirable.
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Make no mistake, Our Inventions is a very nice album—"Rest Your Head" and "Everything is Always" are precious little slices of pop music—just don't expect kids who have been gorging on the psychedelic exploits of Animal Collective to flip out over this one.
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Even those fleeting moments of adventurousness are not enough to make Our Inventions stand out in the realm of minimalist electronic pop (can I coin a genre name here?). Still, I really can’t hold its musical ordinariness against it. Our Inventions is still a decent pop album, and I can’t help but like it for that.
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The results range from sublime ("Remember") to so-so ("Safe Tomorrow"), while the beat-broken "Move On" and the oscillating breakdown of "Future Tense" keep things inventive.
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UncutDespite its meaty themes Our Inventions feels rather slight. [May 2010, p.94]
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Our Inventions feels terminally lacking in ambition and new ideas and a big step backwards for Lali Puna. The music is safe tweetronica, Trebejahr’s vocals inscrutable like a tasteful wallpaper.