Customer Reviews

Drop the Fear

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Since I'm the first reviewer for this CD, I hope my review will encourage others to purchase this sonically lush album and share their own opinions after me.

On the jewel case of my copy of Drop The Fear (DTF) there is a sticker that says "Listen if you Like: Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack, Stereophonics, etc" which is a pretty reliable comparison to give a prospective customer an idea of what style of music and other well known artists Drop the Fear sounds like. In terms of mood and style I think DTF is much closer to Massive Attack's now classic and popular 1998 album Mezzanine, Hooverphonic's first two albums and even Alpha's (another act from Bristol, England formerly on Massive Attack's Melankolic label) 2004 'Stargazing Special Edition' CD. That means you get the dubby beats of Trip-hop, electronic flourishes, the occasional heavy droning guitars that build tension and character to some tracks and alternating male and female lead vocals scattered throughout.

The album starts off nicely with "nevermind", song by Sarah Marcogliese over cloudy trip hop beats and electronic flourishes a la Portishead, Massive Attack and the like. Sarah, who's vocal style is often compared to Bjork's, (in my opinion she's a bit less dramatic than Bjork can be, but in a good way) has great range but other songs by her in this CD are actually more interesting and mysterious than this one.

Then the group kicks it up a notch or two on 'murnau' starting with skittering beats that are suddenly interrupted by a crash of heavy droning guitars reminiscent of "Angel" and "Group Four" from MA's Mezzanine album, with wailing male vocals from Ryan Policky. This track is darker and more mysterious as you can't really hear the lyrics but you get a sense of intensity in the 3.55 minute song.

Next two tracks 'when memory fails' and 'natural law' are Sarah vocals again keeping the mood of the album airy and trippy, the latter track being more abstract with Sarah singing "la la la" as the sample of a male voice talking about the consequence's of fear and dealing with it.

'Long way from home' is another mysterious and foreboding Ryan lead song that starts off with a spooky humming sound almost like Portishead's song "Humming" and builds to a climax in the middle before fading at the end quietly with Sarah declaring sadly "You're a long way from home".

'Edge of the Universe' is the first track I ever heard from Drop the fear on Pandora Music web site, and it's a great song that draws you in with it's deep, pounding drum beats, dreamy vocals from Sarah that float above an intriguing bass guitar rhythm. Classic trip hop this is, with shoegazing/dream pop influences.

'Hot upstairs' is a nice instrumental piece that's reminiscent of "Exchange" from Massive's Mezzanine album.

More neat stuff in tracks 8, 9, and 10 but skipping to 11, the second to last track 'gordon' is a nice bouncy tune that's designed to make you move your body whether you think you can dance or not.

And the excellent finale 'Sloan' is a sweeping track, sung in a Capella by Ryan and Sarah. It starts with some guitar licks then soars with droning electric guitars and deep drum beats as the dreamy, harmonizing vocals floats atop the wave of sound. A great way to end an enjoyable album, reminds me of Massive Attack's "Group Four" when Cocteau Twin's Liz Frazer's angelic pipers float above a volcanic roar of electric guitars.

So this is the run down on Drop the Fear, a concept album of sorts with themes and samples that remind the listeners that life can be difficult and scary sometimes, and change is hard to deal with but we most literally drop the fear and move on.

I recommend this to electronica and trip hop fans to add this to your collection along side the other groups DTF are compared to. The group disbanded after this release but vocalist/guitarist Ryan Policky and drummer Gabriel Ratliff when on to form a new band called A Shoreline Dream, playing dream pop/shoegaze style similar to Slowdive's Souvlaki and Sigur Ros.