Colors in the Wheel

Venus Hum | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 25, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nettwerk Records
• ASIN: B000G7PNK4
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,081 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Turn Me Around

2. Yes and No

3. Birds and Fishes

4. Do You Want to Fight Me?

5. Genevieve's Wheel

6. You Break Me Down

7. Surgery in the Sky

8. Pink Champagne

9. 72 Degrees

10. Untitled

11. Go to Sleep

Editorial Reviews

What is a band but a relationship that has songs and sound equipment in tow? Prone to the same communication breakdowns and moodswings that affect a couple, a band, once the honeymoon phase is over, is in almost constant peril of breaking up. Just ask Venus Hum, who've recently trekked over a long, rocky road to deliver their stellar third album, The Colors In The Wheel. Upon the recording of their critically acclaimed 2002 major label debut, Big Beautiful Sky, the planets aligned for Tony Miracle, Kip Kubin and Annette Strean. They signed not one, but two major label deals. They toured the world, playing to hundreds of thousands of fans. They rubbed shoulders with everyone from JJ Abrams to the Blue Man Group. The whole momentum was, admits Kubin, "magical." Then, a year into the Hum's great adventure, things started to unravel. Mergers and misunderstandings deep-sixed their record deals. Life on the road took its toll. Worst of all, Strean found herself living in almost constant pain, with vocal nodes that threatened to end her career. The initial conversations that led to The Colors In The Wheel were tentative but full of hope. Miracle says, "We had a desire to keep it going. When it works, it works so easily, and it's so creative and fun. I didn't want that to go away. But the separation made it tough. We had to learn to make a record while being separated, emotionally and physically." Working together and apart, the group began to approach their new material with an Eno-esque oblique strategy that deliberately pushed against their identity as a premiere electronic pop band.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!, July 25, 2006

By 

Eddie Badger "Eddie Badger" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colors in the Wheel (Audio CD)

I just picked up this album and it was everything I was looking and would expect from Venus Hum . It is an amazing use of electronic manipulation merged with Strean's melodic vocals. Musically it has all the surprises and quirkiness of Bjork but with the ethereal vocal stylings of Imogen Heap.............and to think this album almost didn't get made!! I would definitely recommend it!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mood perpetuates mood, October 20, 2006

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colors in the Wheel (Audio CD)

For their third full-length album, Venus Hum change their sound a bit. Rather than effervescent synthy pop, they try out a dreamier, "Colours in the Wheel" embraces a dreamy, swirling brand of electronica -- think Flaming Lips by way of Aphex Twin, with Imogen Heap doing the vocals.

The change is pretty obvious with the first song. "Mood perpetuates mood... tears perpetuate tears/one lie touches the other find..." Annette Strean croons softly over a guitar ballad, which is woven through with thin ribbons of synth. After a brief, surreal interlude, we're off into the album full-force.

Harder electronic songs have their presence -- the sultry, semisexual "Yes and No" with its urgent beats ("My no means no/my yes means yes..."), and the sinuous, ominous electroglitch dancepop of "Do You Want to Fight Me?" These are flanked by brief noodling interludes, and a few softer, sweeter little pop songs.

That changes with the exquisite "Genevieve's Wheel," where Strean murmurs over sparkling, soft-edged electronica about "all the colours in the wheel/the wheel, the wheel." At the halfway point, the album becomes experimental, without losing the catchy edge, up until the synth-lullaby finale, "Go To Sleep."

Venus Hum tries for an edgier sound in "Colours of the Wheel," and most of the time that's exactly what they get. Okay, "Pink Champagne" lumbers where the other songs dance, and the interludes aren't really necessary. But the majority of these songs are effervescent and creative, with a wider range than Venus Hum displayed before.

Their main instrument is keyboard, which Kip Kubin and Tony Miracle twist into every imaginable kind of sound -- sometimes soft and mellow, sometimes swirling and sparkling, and sometimes in sharp electronic jabs reminiscent of their last album. There's also a spattering of more down-to-earth instrumentation, such as the acoustic guitar in the opening song.

Annette Strean apparently developed vocal nodes a few years back, but her voice sounds just as good as ever -- strong and flexible, sort of like Imogen Heap's spacier little sister. The lyrics tend to be a bit on the simple side, with lines often repeated, but in Strean's voice they sound quite good.

Venus Hum have some uneven spots in "Colours in the Wheel," but the darker, more experimental, still entrancing music is definitely worth getting your hands on.

(Thank you, Rebecca!)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much layered sonic junk, not enough Annette, November 16, 2006

By 

Jamie Flournoy (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colors in the Wheel (Audio CD)

I really love Big Beautiful Sky and Songs for Superheroes, but this album really misses in the production department, and fails to draw the listener in. It's hard to listen to - challenging - almost tiring to consume. I couldn't figure it out until recently, and now it's obvious. It's all the extra sonic junk in the mixes, that aren't rhythmically or harmonically useful. There are just oodles of bleeps and bloops and filtered swooshes that are layered on every song, and they really detract from the groove and melody, burying Annette's vocals and making for basically a confusing electronic art-music experiment rather than a professional CD. I would totally buy a remix of this CD that simply omitted all the sonic junk and put the vocals front and center as found in the prior 2 CD's.

Note that this has nothing at all to do with the songwriting or performance quality - it's just a production botch that could be fixed in a single day. As it is I can't stand to listen to the songs because there's just too much crud going on.