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REVIEWS
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Lit from Within
Merge
Hunt for the Heart
Confidence Trick
Was I Not Your Muse?
Shock of It All
After the Gold Rush
Vespers
Somniloquy
Rosabelle: Answer-Tell
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REVIEWS
The Endless
Somniloquy
Queen of the Moon Music
Posted: Friday, August 14, 2009
By: Trubie Turner
By: Trubie Turner
A very lovely glimpse of otherworldly realms from this married dreampop duo.
After 10 years of working together, the very talented duo of Dave and Adriana Roze has a marriage of their lives and their art, with the latter leading to the release of their fourth album, Somniloquy. Taking their inspiration from 19th century photographs of séances and other ghostly endeavors, The Endless effortlessly blends Adriana's ethereal vocals with both gothic rock as well as synth and guitar blended dreampop.
Though the opening track, "Lit from Within" is a bit overly heavy-handed with its synth, the second track "Merge" provides the first significant highlight with its strong bass line and mellow, brooding gothic rock feel. "Was I Not Your Muse?" is one of the album's most beautiful gems, with a powerful vocal performance that conveys exceptionally strong feelings of love, loss, and a tinge of anger. This then wonderfully transitions to a second gothic rock styled track, the bass and guitar heavy "Shock of it All," which brings a feeling of intensity and action that offsets the sorrow and uncertainty of the previous track. The album culminates with "Rosabelle: Answer-Tell," a superbly arranged piece that blissfully ebbs and flows between mellow, understated, and melancholy moments and strong, poignant, and boisterous moments with Adriana Roze once again astonishing the listener with the range of emotion in her voice.
The only real problem with Somniloquy is despite its beautiful, much of it is ultimately somewhat forgettable. The genre as a whole generally shoots for a waking dream motif where any sort of in-your-face hook would be largely out of place, so there is very delicate line to walk between the wistful subtlety and being memorable. The Endless does not tread this line perfectly, occasionally stepping on either side of it, ironically leaving the album like a dream; Somniloquy is peaceful and fulfilling but evaporates into the ether with only a few distinctly memorable instances, leaving the listener unsure what happened between those moments that left such a strong impression.
Though the opening track, "Lit from Within" is a bit overly heavy-handed with its synth, the second track "Merge" provides the first significant highlight with its strong bass line and mellow, brooding gothic rock feel. "Was I Not Your Muse?" is one of the album's most beautiful gems, with a powerful vocal performance that conveys exceptionally strong feelings of love, loss, and a tinge of anger. This then wonderfully transitions to a second gothic rock styled track, the bass and guitar heavy "Shock of it All," which brings a feeling of intensity and action that offsets the sorrow and uncertainty of the previous track. The album culminates with "Rosabelle: Answer-Tell," a superbly arranged piece that blissfully ebbs and flows between mellow, understated, and melancholy moments and strong, poignant, and boisterous moments with Adriana Roze once again astonishing the listener with the range of emotion in her voice.
The only real problem with Somniloquy is despite its beautiful, much of it is ultimately somewhat forgettable. The genre as a whole generally shoots for a waking dream motif where any sort of in-your-face hook would be largely out of place, so there is very delicate line to walk between the wistful subtlety and being memorable. The Endless does not tread this line perfectly, occasionally stepping on either side of it, ironically leaving the album like a dream; Somniloquy is peaceful and fulfilling but evaporates into the ether with only a few distinctly memorable instances, leaving the listener unsure what happened between those moments that left such a strong impression.
