The Blue Hour "I've Filled Up These Pages" CD
[Alone]
This is fairly solid work coming from a one-man project (with minor help on bass, programming, and drums in a few tracks) that recorded everything in bedrooms/living spaces! Now, to say that this is something that I'm totally into would be a lie. It's not exactly my thing, but I like a lot of what's going on. The spacey guitar textures and drum programming are definitely cool. It's sort of like a one-man take on Radiohead meets Coldplay meets indie rock with a little bit of U2 thrown in or something like that. It's nothing astounding or incredibly powerful, but it's very good for what it is, and considering the circumstances I'd say that it points to a wealth of promise. The songs are calm and revolve mainly around clean guitars, piano, and beats, with really clean singing vocals mixed deep in with the music. Most of the songs clock in at more than four minutes, but the consistency and generally soothing quality of the approach is really effective. "Sunsets Through Our Eyes" is one of my favorites. The singing is really subdued, the composition flows well, and the fast piano runs are really quite striking amidst the programmed beats and lush overlapping clean guitars. "The Most Defining Point" is the longest piece at nearly six minutes, but again it stands out as one of the most memorable compositions with its excellent vocal work, gentle guitars, some backwards effects, etc. The only song that sort of ruins the cohesion of the record is "Transparent Existence". For the most part it's very good, but the 80's synth pop influences really make no sense in this context and stick out like a sore thumb. The production is damn good for having been recorded in a couple of bedrooms or what have you. I don't know if a 4-track or some sort of portable digital studio was used, but whatever the case the outcome is fucking great. I've heard material from pro studios that sounds like shit compared to this, so I have to give this guy a lot of credit for pulling off such a great sounding record under what I would assume to be a very tight budget. The layout is rather minimal. There are a few photos of a piano (the color photo is very nice), and then all of the lyrics are tightly crammed into a small space in the booklet. I really dislike the typeface chosen for the booklet, but that's life. All of the content is very personal, and the lyrics really don't hold anything back in that regard. "I'm falling in and out of love I'm sorry to say I feel this way but I think we're through and you feel about the same way as I do jump up and run away from me I don't have anything you need and neither do you for me..." Not bad. With a little more work I could see this band doing some awesome things, but it's not there yet. (6/10)
Running time - 34:15, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Sunsets Through Our Eyes, The Most Defining Point]
Alone Records - http://www.alonerecords.com

This review has been displayed 1095 times.