Label: V2 Int'l
Category: Music
Average customer rating:
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 5033197173320
ASIN: B00005OBZW
Release Date: 2006-09-28
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Artist: Ben Christophers
Label: V2 Int'l Category: Music Average customer rating:
Format: Import Media: Audio CD Number Of Discs: 1 EAN: 5033197173320 ASIN: B00005OBZW Release Date: 2006-09-28 |
Spoonface
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Album Description
Sophomore album for UK singer/songwriter. The followup to his 1999 debut 'My Beautiful Demon' with more falsetto folk-electronica. Featuring Faultline's David Kosten again at the production helm, this is a beautifully realized record. Sounding like a cross between Jeff Buckley & early Pink Floyd. Ten tracks including, 'Leaving My Sorrow Behind' & 'Transatlantic Shooting Stars'. Uncut gave it 4 stars saying, '..stunningly combining pin-drop stillness with spooked, unusual arrangements worthy of Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) & a croon cramped in the void between Jeff Buckley & Art Garfunkel...Gorgeous'. 2001.Customer Reviews:
Desert Island Top 10.......2002-08-27
Very Promising Stuff........2002-05-30
Whilst clearly singer-songwriter based, and with a lot of minimalist electronic influences in the production, in the main Spoonface is psychedelia crossed with minimal classical, and really ancient sounding folk and blues. The whole affair is very minimal and short, but still manages to hold the listeners attention. At times it almost sounds like psychedelic era Pink Floyd or the folkier moments of mid-period Led Zeppelin updated to an age of pinprick quality sound. Also at times reminiscent of the more sublime (and less silly) moments of the Beta Band, the comparisons with Radiohead and Jeff Buckley come mainly in the lyrics (very Bucklyesque) and the vocals (more like Matt Bellamy of Muse fame to be honest, but with a kind of crystal clear purity which reminds me almost of Sigur Ros).
The production by Faultine is very clean and crisp, lacking the over the top feel of his work on Christophers first album, and giving the simple folk like material a lot of space to breathe, with lashings of reverb and mysterious stereo effects to complete the unearthly, yet strangely very English feel to the piece. The closing song, "The Opium Willows" is perhaps the best, sounding like some lost folk song, timeless and left bare except for an echoey acoustic and Christophers vaulting, almost androgynous vocal tones.
Although a very short album, it gives the satisfaction of being a complete piece of work which many albums lack, and is well paced with bouncy, hyper modern pop-like songs mixed in with abstract classical inspired tracks, psychedelic songs and bleak ballads.
Experimental New Acoustic Movement!.......2002-01-30
This album does differ in a few areas when compared to the other ones I listed earlier.The similarities are that Christophers is a multi-instrumentalist-and a very talented one at that.Some of his arrangements are excellent.His lyrics are on the side of sensitive melancholia.The sounds and influences stretch to the standard Elliot Smith and of course Jeff Buckley's falsetto.There are lots of acoustic moments on the c.d.Finally it's another c.d. that is perfectly suited for the late night acoustic chill out.
There are differences also.Firstly he isn't totally obsessed with acoustic sounds.He uses an array of drum machines,he uses plenty of different types of keyboards.There maybe no electric guitar riffs to remember but the sound isn't wimpy by any means.Many tracks have a meaty bass and synth soundtrack to them.He also tends to play around with the vocals a great deal.Distorted vocals a'la Radiohead can be heard on tracks like The Stream and to a lesser extent on other tracks like "Losing Myself".Some of his arrangements are very stark,atmospheric and almost industrial.The track "Songbird Scrapes The Sky" has a Japan feel to the verses in the way it sounds so minimalist,before a glorious more convetional chorus.In fact I think Christophers experiments with sound way more then his N.A.M. alliesThis makes the album fairly interesting.It's the sort of album that doesn't have immediate accessibility.The many facets of tracks like Losing Myself really reward repeated listens.It drifts from plain acoustic to having vast amount of strange effects going on in the background.All the tracks are short and to the point,he doesn't go in for any epic tracks.So the whole album breezes by in less then 40 mins.
Christophers' album was one of the best received by British music crtics this year.It managed to find it's way onto nearly every magazine's and newspaper's best of the year list.It is a good album and for those of you who haven't had their fill of this music this year-I'd say you'd enjoy it thoroughly.
More beauty from the master.......2001-12-26
I need not have worried, although quite different from his first album 'Spoonface' is an admirable addition to the Christophers back catalogue.
If anything the album is a bit of a grower and some folk won't take to it right away but it can creep up on you, trust me it's worth it.
The only thing that i wasn't entirley happy with was the way his voice was messed about with at times, the guys voice is phenomenal in it's own right, no need for distortion and so on.
However that is merely a blimp on an otherwise beautiful horizon.
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