Customer Reviews

Of Color Bright

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a wonderful album that you'll enjoy listening to over & over again. Some of the other reviewers who have rated this album poorly had problems with parts of songs being discordant, or lyrics being "cryptic". For the most part, the music is lush and layered with effective use of repetition; the occassional discordant sections were well placed, and served to intensify (by contrast) the sense of flow that 90% of the song embodied. The notion that "anyone can be cryptic" misses the whole point. If I want bubble-gum pop lyrics that a 6 year old can write, I'll listen to the radio. The whole point of the album's lyric is to be poetic & sparse so that you have the wonderful *opportunity* to add your own mental color/meaning; this is fun, not labor. This is the most satisfying type of music, and I find it unfortunate that others are so harshly critical of what they don't understand. This isn't minimalist modern art music that only snobby intellectuals pretend to understand. It is mostly light space pop with an occassional twist to keep the listener interested. I wish velour 100 would put together another album!

I remember listening to this on long car rides so long ago. A great album featuring three different female vocalists. Morella's Forest singer, Sydney Rentz, Tess Wiley, and His Name is Alive singer, Karen Oliver. Each song is a dreamy mix bound to make you smile. I only wish Trey Many kept making albums like this. Tooth and Nail doesn't make them like this anymore.

I was lucky enough to find this used, already having "Fall Sounds" and "Songs from the Rainwater EP". I must say this one blows the other two away! The mix is really impressive; lush and full, but very substantial. The singing is terrific, too. As a His Name Is Alive fan, Karin Oliver's voice is always a treat to hear! "Bittersweet" has an electronic backing track with melodic intertwining guitars for a unique and beautiful sound. "Pressed Flower" has the mesmerizing juxtaposition of Karin's soothing vocals with heavy guitar distortion. "Under Heaven", "Tumble", and "Monochrome" are also incredible. Don't miss this if you see it.

My cousin gave this CD because he was trying to get rid of all his non-tastefull CDs, and I must say when I first listened to this CD, it didn't get played again for a couple months. The music was just too slow for my taste at the time, and the genre of music was just not my type.

But upon re-listening to this CD, I have found so many treasures and unforgetable music hidden underneath the dirt. Songs like Tumble and Monochrome are so peaceful you feel like you're sitting beside the "calm blue ocean" whenever you listen to them.

Clouds and Shine provide the melodies to keep you "Rockin' and Rollin'" all night, and Sky from Underwater and Dolphin Grey provide your soul with lyrics badly needed to be heard.

All in all, you CANNOT go wrong with this CD. It will uplift and revive your soul in ways you would not expect to experience.

Check out my other reviews for great Christian CDs, books, etc.

This album is wondeful beyond words. It's a complete spiritual/sonic experience if you're willing to give it the attention it deserves. The songs are soothing and pretty enough to accompany a comfortable afternon nap but there's a whole nother layer here besides the sonic beauty. The lyrical themes cover a range of reflective and experiental venues while relating them all together within a larger picture. "Clouds" seems to be about the exhilleration of a moment of Divine revelation. "Dolphin Grey" speaks of how profoundly that exhilleration can be challenged in seasons of dissapointment and uncertainty. Huge thanks to Velour for a gut wrenchingly honest look at areas of spirituality that are usually either sugar coated or ignored all together. Amidst the honesty and even outright despair, a thread of hope holds it all together. In the end, the entire project is a celebration of beauty. This is definitely an instrumentally driven album; the soft, droning, gorgeous, all female vocals are distinctively downplayed as if you were overhearing a person thinking outloud. The instrumentation is alternately lilting and being slowly drawn along; always pleasant but experamental and quirky enough to be completely interesting. If you are patient, can deal with having your theology (or lack thereof) challenged, and appreciate a musical delicacy you need to throw some of your time and money into this album.

Velour 100 succeeds in the traditions of Lush and The Cocteau Twins; they produce very full, across-the-frequency-board mixes while keeping the overall sound balanced and clean. Anyone who has engineering experience knows how difficult this is. And on top of it all, there are a slew of great tunes here, ranging from more a more upbeat, alternative flavor to slower, melancholy dream dirges. I particularly like the short, electronic interludes in between songs; they remind me of My Bloody Valentine albums... A strong and mesmerizing effort from Velour 100. Hard to find, but worth it. It remains one of those hidden gems I dig out on a long road trip. Beautiful... (p.s. pay no attention to the reviewer below; he has no idea what noise is.)

I bought this disc when it first came out, years ago, and was blown away then by the band's use of dense production, instrumentation/voice layering, reverb, and slick guitar licks. Other reviewers complain about this "wall of sound" or the female singer vocals being "buried" under the thick guitars/wall of sound, but that's how it's supposed to sound. (I hadn't heard of Loveless and their early 90s masterpiece, My Bloody Valentine, but that is exactly where Velour 100 got their inspiration.) "Of Color Bright" is a Christian take on shoegazer rock. I still pull this disk out every now and then and wonder how such lovely music can be so overlooked. Play the sample above of track #5 "Shine" and you'll hear how Velour 100 uses the two female singers to full advantage to play off each other in such a sweet way. Sample track #3 "Pressed Flower" to hear the heavy guitar/drum beats. The sample from track #9 "Dolphin Grey" has a simple yet perceptive lyric about how the person Jesus might be better left on the black and white text pages of the Bible rather than us humans trying to force Him to come alive here on earth: "Maybe that's the only place you can survive." The lyrics give you much to think about while grooving to the pop/rock/psychedlic music. 4 stars, only because I reserve 5 stars for "must haves." And if you are not into, or are not open to, shoegazer rock, this disk is not for you. But if you enjoy that lush wall of sound, female vocalists singing underwater, and guitars driving the songs, this could be a gem you wished you'd discovered years ago.

This is a very tight album. Be sure to check out the Fall Sounds cd too. The EP is worth buying as well. Of Color Bright is a more upbeat album than the other two. All in all very representative of Velour's talent. It's not a Michael W. Smith world after all.

I bought "Of Color Bright" because I had heard, and enjoyed, one of the songs from the album. The music on this album isn't bad; in fact it's rather nice, relaxing and flows well. Unfortunately, the recording quality of the lyrics is abysmal. It sounds as though the lead singer was recorded from three rooms away through a tin can. This results in the lyrics being slurred and almost indecipherable and ends up sounding like the lead singer has a speech impediment. If you can get over the quality of the recorded lyrics, you might find an enjoyable listen. For me though, it was a bit too aggravating to bother. In any case, make sure you check the preview clips before purchasing.

I had a real hard time with this CD. I wanted to enjoy it. After all, I spent money on it, and I already knew I liked the song "Sky From Under Water" which I had heard on a sampler disk. I did notice that it was difficult to understand exactly what the singer was saying, but that is beside the point.

While I wouldn't say it was quite as bad as eating rancid mayonnaise I would strongly question what exactly the other reviewers were listening to. It seems to me that the songs were written in such a way that they made almost no sense at all, but relied on people to make up their own meanings, therefore making people like the CD because they had essentially created the meanings of the lyrics. Unfortunately I don't buy music so that I can sit and try and decipher lyrics and pretend that the songwriters where on such a higher plain that I couldn't possibly understand. So many times people pass off a complete lack of creativity as amazing creativity, thinking that they just cannot understand such brilliance. Or people think being creative means being cryptic. Anyone can be cryptic. Anyone can be unimaginative. Anyone can write songs that don't make any sense.

As a side-note to illustrate my point, I believe that "Dandelions" by Five-Iron-Frenzy is one of the most wonderfully written songs. It is completely allegorical, yet it is so easy to make the comparison. This is due to the fact that because almost everyone has brought dandelions to their mothers when they were little. And almost every mother has treated them like flowers, even though they are really weeds, just like God does to us.

So anyway, I would strongly suggest listening to a few tracks on this CD before purchasing it. If you find that you like this sort of sound then go for it. Those who are looking for a deeper, more coherent listen might want to search elsewhere.