Customer Reviews

Five Roses

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I caught "Have You Seen In Your Dreams" on XM Verge a couple months ago, and wrote down title and artist with ! indicating download the entire album. Turns out that is not even close to the best song on it. "Fortune" is one of the most addictive tunes I've heard in quite a while; the perfectly executed guitar fuzz on this song is reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel. While all the Brian Wilson comparisons are valid, Graham Van Pelt has created an atmosphere here that takes me to a place I haven't visited since MBV's Loveless. Not that Miracle Fortress is shoegaze at all...it just has that hypnotic quality, not unlike "Silver" by Jesu. There's not a lemon on this disc, and to call it Indie Pop or Chamber Pop, I think is doing it a great disservice; it's simply more ambitious than that. You just have to experience it. I'd suggest downloading "Fortune," "Have You Seen In Your Dreams," "Next Train," & "Blasphemy" if you just want a taste. I highly recommend this disk; everyone I've turned onto it has been floored.

I downloaded this album over a year ago, and I never really got the chance to listen to it. Agreed with one of the listeners below, it's defiantly a sleeper album. I wound up listening to this after coming home, and I really liked it. The mood to the album is pretty cool. They mix in great sounds and vocals. This band reminds alot of The Shins, in the way that they mix in the heavier sound with the cool laid back vocals. This band is defiantly one whose done their homework on how to produce great music. It also reminds alot of the new pornographers, which is also another awesome band. If you love any of these bands then you should buy this it's a really good.

This is a wonderful album that has slipped under the radar for a lot of people, but offers so much beautiful music and even after a couple of years is an album I listen to often.

Was at my local record store in '07 (Lou's in SD) and heard this at their 'listening station'. Picked it up and it's been a favorite ever since. Here I am in '09 still playing this album and now I'm looking to see if he's done anything more..
This is truly innovative rock.

The other reviews hint at what you'll find with this deceptively beautiful sleeper of a record. Lush, layered electronic atmospheric pop that is absolutely disarming. This disk seems to fall into the mental 'filing space' of other bands that I have come across that evoke the same impression with me - I call it "Narcotic Pop". The kind of music whose gentle lulling minor key melodies and layered electronic soundscapes, accompanied by traditional accoustic instrumentations, result in a style of pop that is amost sedative-like. Sounds great on headphones, or on a TRUE quality stereo system. The kind of music that evokes that sensation of partial consciousnes you have just prior to falling asleep. The other reviews hint at 'shoegaze' or the inevitable MBV reference points, and I suppose those are valid enough. If you are reading these reviews and considering purchasing it, you really can't go wrong - it truly is an accomplished and beautiful record. For those who have this record and are considering other bands that fall into this space, you should consider: Radio Dept., Softlightes, Now its Overhead.

Five Roses is absolutely stunning. Dense, lush with echoes of The Beach Boys. The last track kind of peters out however.

If you like Caribou, Kelley Stoltz or Bon Iver you should get this.

[DW]

With so much terrible music being churned out unmercifully, and so few avenues available to the casual listener to avoid these reeking heaps of garbage, Miracle Fortress comes as a rare reprieve from the constant barage of schlock that characterizes the music industry these days.
I would describe their style as Brian Enoesque, when he was producing pop gems on albums like Another Green World and Taking Tiger Mountain. The entire CD is excellent, but the songs Beach Baby and Maybe Lately are two of the best songs I've ever heards, in any genre. It's a shame a band like Miracle Fortress doesn't get any airplay. If they did maybe commercial radio stations could expand their fanbase beyond rednecks and brain damaged hippies requesting the same songs we've all heard twenty seven thousand times. Unfortunately, I reckon we'll see peace in the middle east before we see decent radio.

I read somewhere that Graham Van Pelt was 23 when he composed Five Roses. I'm always amazed to see such depth of emotion and maturity of thought in an artist so young. Five Roses sounds and feels effortless, carefree, and buoyant. The songs are woven with harmonies and sounds which create a rich tapestry of sound, whose ultimate effect is uplifting, and at times, transcendent. I'm surprised this album isn't getting more attention. My guess is that history will look favorably on Five Roses, and I hope we hear more from Mr. Van Pelt soon.

This product was exactly as advertised. i recommend wholly. A++++. It is all good for me. (more words to appease Amazon.com, though nothing more to say).