Customer Reviews

Ambiguous

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really like the majority of this CD. Songs like Good Things and Colors of Indifference are awesome. My least favorite songs are Vague Inklings (The beat and the lyrics don't mesh right in my mind) and Monotone & Ambiguous (which is interesting, but not a song I'd voluntarily listen to more than once). The rest is gold to my ears. The only other qualm I have with this CD is that it's short. 9 songs, minus the 2 I don't like makes for some limited listening. That's the only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. I'd recommend getting this album if you 're into bands like Cocteau Twins, Love is Colder Than Death, Love Spirals Downwards, and Chandeen.<BR...

I would have given "Ambiguous" 5 instead of 4 stars but because of my dislike of "Static Unload" and because of the album's short and teasing length--which is truly unfair to the listener who craves more--I unfortunately must succumb to lowering my initial rating. This really is an amazing album from Cleopatra records though, which is home to one of my favorite goth groups, Switchblade Symphony. And while I don't necessarily recommend this to die-hard goth fans, I do recommend it to fans of dark ethereal music.

Most of the songs like "The Last Beat Of My Heart", which features drums that bring to mind a vague resemblance to Dead Can Dance, and the sad melancholy of their remake to Siouxsie & The Banshees' "For You" creep along rather slowly, songs like "Monontonus & Ambiguous", "Never" and "Useless Polemical Chap" raise the bar a notch with darkwave electro beats that bleed into each other harmonically.

Much like Collide, Switchblade Symphony, Mira and Dead Can Dance, the group Edera is a duo with Catrin Mallon on vocals and Oliver Henkel producing. And while Edera hasn't captured my attention as strongly as the artists mentioned above have, their sound is unlike any other and is completely original, so for that I applaud them. And while Catrin's vocals tend to ride on a rather monotonous level when it comes to depth and range, she's got a lovely singing style (ominously beautiful) that is rich and filled with a kind of passion that is truly unforced.

I see that since no one has given a review at all, I thought it would be better to at least let others know what I DO know about Edera. This isn't really a review of the album, and therefore, I feel guilty having to assign a "star" rating at all, but I had to, otherwise I wouldn't be able to submit the review.

All I can offer is a review of one song off the album, titled "Last Beat Of My Heart." This track is a BEAUTIFUL remake of a Siouxsie & the Banshees song by the same name (actually, the title of their song is "last beat of your heart," not "last beat of my heart"). I am not really familiar with any other Siouxsie songs, but after hearing Edera's version first, I did seek out and find the original version; I ended up liking Edera's version better.

I know nothing about the other tracks on the album. I only became familiar with this song through a Hyperium records release titled "Heavenly Voices: Volume 4." I own all the heavenly voices albums (1-4) and the theme for these compilation albums is the celebration of some of the most beautiful female voices in the darkwave, ethereal genre. If you like the voices of Liz Frasier (Cocteau Twins), Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance)and Anneli Drecker (Bel Canto), then chances are you'll love the compilation series.

Edera's rendition of "Last Beat Of Your Heart" is truly haunting and I especially enjoy listening to it when I'm in the mood to fall asleep. It's very ethereal-sounding and the vocalist's sound is so unique in this track (I think it's due in part to the fact that it is sung a certain way to keep true with the way it was sung originally)that I am entranced by it.