Angels of Light Sing Other People

Angels Of Light | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 22, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Young God Records
• ASIN: B0007PL8JU
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #314,929 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Another breakthrough for former Swans frontman M. Gira and company - short, sharply orchestrated, almost-pop songs that access a multitude of musical styles and references. These 12 finely hewn tributes to friends and heroes, stars and scoundrels make this easily the most accessible Angels of Light offering yet. --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ..., April 11, 2005

By 

Matt Bateman (Somewhere else) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angels of Light Sing Other People (Audio CD)

If you're familiar with Angels of Light, you probably know what to expect from this one. But you'd be wrong. The most immediately noticeable change is that the five and six minute song lengths are pretty much gone. In fact, the average song length on Sing Other People is under four minutes, which means these tracks are much less epic than those on previous releases. Gone also are the louder numbers. There's no yelling, no overpowering electric guitar, and none of the stampeding drums that have marked this band's albums thus far. Most of the tracks range from not too sparse acoustic pieces to what sounds like Brian Wilson-style backing vocal arrangements. If Wilson were channeled through Gira's twisted sense of melody. And of course the lead vocals are as deep as ever. Overall, this is just as good as anything you've heard from this band so far, even if it is different.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing, April 18, 2005

By 

alexander laurence (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angels of Light Sing Other People (Audio CD)

Michael Gira has done a large amount of work. Some of is sounds nice and much of it is dark. Much more is very nasty. I guess that is why he has such a large Goth following that pays attention to his every move. Recently Gira has created a lot of folk music and good tunes. He has embraced narratives and told stories. Much of this album is vocals and acoustic guitar. Not much of the dark vibe can overpower these songs. "The Kid Is Already Breaking" is a song about Devendra Banhart. There are plenty of songs about children and time passing. Gira uses mostly the Akron/Family as his backing musicians on this record. Of course there are some frequent collaborator like Siobhan Duffy on here too. There are plenty of new sounds on this record. It is a good place to start listening to his music. Michael Gira will always be an American musical genius. Maybe more people can find this out in the future?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gira is still creating great music after all of these years, July 6, 2006

By 

Internal Abbatoir (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angels of Light Sing Other People (Audio CD)

Michael Gira should be bigger than most of his contemporaries. In fact, he should have hit it big with Swans years ago for creating a truly original, unrelenting sound. However, it is an indisputable fact that the mainstream prefers a watered down, easily accessible sound as opposed to music that is actually challenging. Gira's one and only major label release, The Burning World, proved to be a commercial failure. In many ways, The Angels of Light continue down the path that The Burning World opened up. And while Swans explored the depths of different textures of sound, The Angels of Light strips everything down to the most basic and intimate levels. With that said, Gira has become a fine singer/songwriter.