13 tracks from this Italian male/female neo-classical duo with help from additional musicians contributing violin, viola, cello, etc. Musically the songs revolve chiefly around fingerpicked acoustic guitars and subtly orchestral synths/tastefully programmed percussion. The female vocals are in a full blown orchestral style that I'm really just not that fond of, and I think that, despite having an amazing recording, the mix of the record is problematic on a few levels. First and foremost, the vocals are significantly louder than the music, which really drowns out a lot of what's important about these compositions. Speaking strictly of the instrumentation, everything sounds beautiful, but I think the music needs to be louder and more balanced, as sometimes very intriguing background textures or carefully performed layers of stringed instruments get drowned out. The dense, resonant percussive rhythms are usually toned down and handled perfectly, but the lead instruments need to drive this material, even more so than the vocals. I'd have a problem with this singing style no matter what, but were the vocals always mixed deep into the music I think I would be able to enjoy this a lot more, as I highly respect and appreciate most of this music. Some of it has a very traditional flare to it that's a little too... common for me? I'm not sure how I would classify it, but something about it disinterests me, I prefer the more lush and somber passages. My only gripe with the actual compositions is that the tracks are often far too long, thus making the record drag on after a certain point in time. There's no real reason for a number of songs to run more than five, eight, even 10 minutes... The disc comes in a nice glossy digipack with a rather thick booklet which contains the lyrics (almost all of which are in Italian), a few band photos, and lots of gorgeous photographs of architecture that really do look excellent in this context. I really feel bad giving this a mere 5/10 as it's a very professional release, but I really just can't enjoy most of the songs due to the exaggerated vocal performance, and the 60+ minute running time is a little dull in the end.
[Eqvilibrivm]
Running time - 63:37, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Praga, Curtis]
Eqvilibrivm Mvsic - http://www.equilibriummusic.com
