This extremely long experimental journey opens with orchestral melodies fighting to be heard amongst broken up radio signals and wavering electronics in "A Love Set to Music", before introducing the ambient lulls and subtle melodic undercurrents of "Hopeless" - where the duo's female vocalist makes several abstract contributions that work as additional texture to the piece, rather than a focal singing performance (you can't actually make out any words). But this isn't necessarily more indicative of the rest of the record, as "This is the Place Where the Dead Help the Living" changes things up again with eerily twisted drones lingering behind a throbbing programmed beat. Some such influences aren't my thing, but I tend to enjoy most of what I'm hearing here. Admittedly I can't quite stomach "A Valentine", as the glitchy electronics are one thing, but the texture of the weird high-end synth melody underneath reminds me of an annoying west coast hip-hop loop or something for some reason. I also find the programmed percussion in the untitled (and unlisted) sixth track to be less effective than in "This is the Place Where the Dead Help the Living", as the tempo's a bit faster and therefore possesses less feeling, thus distracting from the lush ambience surrounding it. "Tomorrow Romance" comes in at a whopping 11+ minutes and is among my favorite tracks, slow paced and brooding with plenty of ethereal dark ambient sounds swirling about to create a back and forth sense of motion. "Goodnight, Princess" is another solid effort, coming across as a bit more dynamic in its use of smooth ambience as well as harsher bursts, plus the percussive elements are more organic and subtle, sounding more like sampled arrangements rather than programmed drums or what have you. And then there's the mammoth closing track, "(And Sweet Dreams)", clocking in at an astounding 17:44. The first half of the piece follows a rather persistent and dense ambient direction, gradually giving way to another carefully musical set of melodies that retain that same sort of vibe, but add a little more character before closing on a less structured note that becomes somewhat more sinister in its use of noisier (not louder, just noisier) elements. Both "Tomie" and "All Yours" contain some Jarboe-esque vocal performances with plenty of reverb, though the latter is far too repetitious at nearly eight minutes in length. At the same time, however, I'm not that fond of such vocals. I think this girl is a great vocalist, but I don't feel like her talents are being properly displayed on this particular disc. I'm not sure... some of the music is very nice herein, but I rarely feel like the vocals are given the opportunity to properly amplify the emotions created by the soundscapes. The packaging is fairly minimal and uses some black and white imagery amidst consistent looking text and black space. It looks somewhat plain somehow, not bad, there's definitely a degree of quality to it, but I think something a little more artistic or suggestive might represent or accompany the music better. As a whole I think this disc is a little too inconsistent to hold my interest for well over an hour, but a number of the stronger tracks could've made for an excellent EP. So I'm intrigued by this project, but I'm not entirely sold on this record. I'll be curious to hear their future output, though.
[Parasomnic]
Running time - 72:44, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Hopeless, Tomorrow Romance, Goodnight, Princess, (And Sweet Dreams)]
Parasomnic Records - http://www.parasomnicrecords.com
