This Italian act plays a rather interesting emo/indie style that's definitely sort of different from the norm. Some of the music is rather straightforward in its use of jangly chords and minimal distortion, letting the rhythm section drive the rhythms and interspersing some nice clean passages amidst it all. But the soaring female singing with tons of vocal harmonies definitely gives the band a really different sound. It's a little darker and more dramatic, so there's nothing upbeat or poppy about the material at all. Sometimes the singing can feel overbearing, but that's just because the vocals are very focal in the mix. I think the singing is great and I really like the almost constant harmonization she's got going on. "Silently" uses soft acoustic guitars and a more stripped down vocal performance, making for a more emotional and memorable piece that actually comes off as more dynamic in the end; "Here's My Moon" is a little slower and darker with more spacious rhythms; and "A Fragile While" is another acoustic track, this time sans percussion and with some synths added as backing texture. The recording? I'm torn on that. It sounds decent for a demo, but it needs work, because under optimal circumstances this material would come across significantly stronger than it does here. The vocals are definitely a little loud, due in part to the proliferation of harmonies, and that's a little bit of a distraction, but beyond that I'd say only minimal tweaking is necessary. The drums sound pretty good, and the bass is there, but I'd give the bass more definition so that the bass notes would work more closely with the openness of the guitars. The guitars actually tend to get lost amidst it all a lot of times, so I'd recommend either a little more distortion, or simply clearing up the mix to give them a more dominant home in the instrumentation. Most of the problems are mix-related (sans a lack of smoothness that leaves things sounding a little dry and raw at the seams), I'd say, so that's pretty minor. The CD-R comes in a clear sleeve with a two-sided color xeroxed insert with minimal artwork and text (basically credits and the song titles). It's simple and plain, but it looks fairly nice and works. It gets the point across at the base level. Despite some faults I'm giving this one the benefit of the doubt because I think there's a ton of promise here and I actively want to hear more from this band, which is very rare based on a demo. So despite some rough edges and problems with the mix, I like the songs and the vocal performance enough to overcome that. I'm hoping this band will get signed and drop a full-length, I'd love to hear it.
[self-released]
Running time - 25:09, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Brand New Old Day, Silently]
Rain Against the Sky - http://www.rainagainstthesky.com
