Customer Reviews

Last Bright Light

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since I give out so many 5-star reviews, maybe I've partially trivialized its meaning when I rate stuff. I've wanted to write reviews without placing much emphasis on the rating anyway. Whatever the case, I'm trying to say that there are differences between 5-star albums, and Mostly Autumn's The Last Bright Light is in the upper echelon of those with the highest rating. And though I don't have the writing skill necessary to communicate how much I like this band, more people have to spread the word. I'll do my part.

The Last Bright Light is Mostly Autumn's third album, and shows them continuing to flex their songwriting muscles with their inventive style. If you've never heard them before, it's easiest for me to just rip off the description from their website: "Powerful atmospheric rock with a Celtic edge, influenced by Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Genesis, and reminiscent of 70's Fleetwood Mac and Fairport Convention - difficult to pigeonhole, and although Mostly Autumn wears its influences on its sleeve, the originality far outweighs this. Mostly Autumn's sound incorporates the uses of flute, low and penny whistles, violins and vocal harmonies - over a powerful band, consisting of keyboards, two guitarists, bass and drums."

This description doesn't mention that the band uses two main vocalists, male and female. Perhaps because most of the music I listen to is dominated by men, I think it's refreshing to hear a female singer with a great band.

Some song-by-song commentary:

"...Just Moving On" is an airy introduction beginning with the call of bagpipes then moving into a piano/keyboard melody recalling The Division Bell and The Snow Goose (maybe?). Segues into...

..."We Come and Go", a warmly inviting track with a sunny guitar riff and Brian Josh's vocals, a bit of Roger Waters and perhaps a touch of Tom Petty in the enunciation combining with his own distinct sound. The chorus possesses an instant hook and powerful chords. Heather Findlay's delightful voice provides backup throughout.

"Half the Mountain" is a ballad with saddening lyrical imagery and a measure of dolor in its music. Hope blooms with the brave guitar solo and happier background music as the song progresses.

"The Eyes of the Forest" is tranquil, pastoral minimalism, sporting flute, acoustic guitar, and nature sounds. This is Heather Findlay's first songwriting credit on the CD, and her singing is lighter than air, delicate and pretty. Personally, I find her voice lovely and distinctive, but her other songs show this better.

"The Dark Before the Dawn" stands apart from most of this band's music, featuring some harrowing keyboard atmospheres juxtaposed with driving rock. Folkish flute melodies are dancing around the edges, and Josh's serrated, burning guitar solo evokes a certain edginess you don't often hear from him.

"Hollow" is sung by Findlay but written by keyboardist Iain Jennings. While I understand that it's often expedient for a band to be dominated by one main songwriter, I like the fact that most of this band's members get involved in the writing at some point. This one is mainly a relaxed pop ballad with astute, celestial keyboard patches. For lack of something else to say, I'd call it a highlight. That's meaningless though, because every song on the album is a highlight.

"Prints in the Stone" is an outstanding acoustic folk-inspired pop ballad, with the voices of Josh and Findlay harmonizing beautifully. Angela Goldthorpe's flutes and recorders follow along with the melodies. The middle section moves the song is a slightly darker direction, with just. The lyrics are evocative of nature's simple beauties.

One of the things that with Mostly Autumn is how their longer songs build into extremely powerful finales. On The Last Bright Light, you don't really get a taste of this until the title track. It begins in a familiar manner, just a tense acoustic guitar line and Josh's vocals. Then, the acoustic guitar pounds out a rhythm while Gregorian chants fill the background, suggesting a build-up to the chorus, which is powerful itself. On and on the music builds until the finale of Celtic melodies on woodwinds and a Gilmour-like guitar solo.

"Never the Rainbow" puts Findlay's pretty voice against one of the band's most driving power songs, which rocks to the max with tremoring organs and grinding guitars. I wondered something like that would sound like, so thanks guys.

"Shrinking Violet" is Miss Findlay's most powerful songwriting on the album. The lyrics seem personal, and the whole performance is stunning. The music is sparingly arranged at first, just acoustic guitar, recorder, voice. After the bridge, it ascends into beautiful orchestrations and powerful guitar melodies that make me weak.

"Helms Deep" is a bouncy, dynamic instrumental that evokes a highland festival. There is a slow middle section with medieval sound effects which is positively. The intensity rises and falls across the song (which is close to seven minutes), and memorable melodies are everywhere. By the time the lustrous electric guitar comes in towards the end, I always seem to have a smile on my face. It ends with some pretty piano notes that might leave me with a dark mood if it didn't move so abruptly into...

..."Deep Wood?", which is written by Angela Goldthorpe, who plays most of the band's recorders and flutes. This one also has a festive quality -- a very danceable tune with acoustic guitars and woodwinds.

"Mother Nature", the 12-minute epic closer, is stunning. It uses the band's traditional opening motif which is familiar by now (acoustic guitar and flute), and Josh and Findlay are singing together for the effect I've come to like so much. The chorus is gorgeous and emotional, and the backing voices in the instrumental section are angelic. About halfway through the band really goes all out with stormy wind effects, simmering organs, exciting beats, and intense riffing. Finally, the song's gorgeous ending recalls Marillion's best music. The keyboard solo is just about the best I've heard -- beautiful and stately with the most heavenly patch the instrument is likely to offer. The tearful guitar solo that follows evokes the best of Steve Rothery and David Gilmour.

In closing, this is another excellent album by an excellent band. As you can tell from my comments, Heather Findlay's role on this album is greater than any other, and this is good because I love her voice and she's proving to be a very talented songwriter.

Enough talk...buy this album!

Simply put, if you like beautiful and melodic music performed both vocally and instrumentally with superb talent and production, go to add to cart immediately,do not think twice. Brings to mind "the Floyd" in guitar tone and vocal phrasing. Similiar song structure to Porcupine Tree. I believe in 20-30 yrs this album will be considered a masterpiece. It already is a contemporary masterpiece to me. Certainly, one of the best albums I have ever purchased, but this music speaks for itself. Someone once said,"music is the greatest of the arts because it cuts through everything,needs no aids. It is. It simply is. Peace.

"What a gift, the starry sky
Scatters tune across the world
The chorus of a bird in flight
in the wind a sense of change
As we all know in our hearts
Nothing will remain the same."
[From "We Come And We Go."]

Have you ever purchased a cd on impulse, not knowing exactly why? Have you ever then listened to it but was not able to comprehend it fully? Yet you heard something. SOMETHING. And because of that Something, you kept the cd close because you knew it was meant for you to find and it was actually a part of you that was to be discovered one night? And oh, what a special, magical night it is when you discover it--you understand! TONIGHT.

This is regenerative Music. Wow! It has a dreamy affect that reminds me a little of Pink Floyd and some Loreena McKennitt. (DOUBLE WOW!) Yet I have never heard anything quite like this! What a intricate collaboration of fluid, delicate, translucent, pure, reflective, inspiring and aspiring Music for the soul! Thoughtful lyrics, lush voices, estactic instrumentation! Breathe this in deeply and allow yourself to be lifted to the clouds. This sounds like the music to a lucid waterfall dream I had--a dream so real that I can feel it now. NOW.

"Hollow" is speaking to me strongly, the song feels like a trickling stream which ebbs and flows until it gushes yet, at the same time, the lyrics are rather melancholy. But not to me! It fires me up as I realize I can change anything, any circumstance and make it what I want it to be. Now isn't this what Music should do? Oh and I must comment on "Shrinking Violet"--wait there are no words...the beauty overtakes me. Findlay is to be applauded here! Wow, she sings like an angel!

"I remember dancing as a child
a careless confidence danced with me
Whatever happened to the sun?
Only seemed to notice it when it had gone."
["Shrinking Violet"]

Hard to pick a favorite song because they all have shining moments of glory. But right now, as I listen to "Mother Nature," I'd have to choose it:

"Time to look and see
In colours of time we know who we are
Breathing the air that is sweet...
SOMETIMES..."

Let the beauty of MOSTLY AUTUMN inspire you to...

SOAR!

Mostly Autumn is an interesting band for they're rightfully considered progressive rock but with a slight celtic accent, which is really quite fascinating because I've never heard this kind of fusion before, and I've listened to a fair share of experimentation's when it comes to different genres colliding as one... I love music that's adventurous so Mostly Autumn has been a golden find for me.

The lyrics as well as the singers, which trade-off from Josh to Heather, are usually dark and moody but are always painstakingly beautiful, so to me Mostly Autumn seem to be leaning dangerously close to becoming labeled as alternative goth-rock...(that is if they're not careful). May it be that they decide to follow down this path than I'll gladly be willing to tread along that road with them for I'm a huge fan of goth-rock, industrial and darkwave. I really don't see them making that drastic of a change though so, before I get carried away with myself, I better move on before I give you die-hard fans a heart-attack :)

I love how the album alters from subtle tunes like "Hollow" and "Shrinking Violet" (my absolute favorite!-SIMPLY GORGEOUS!) to more electrifying tunes like "We Come and We Go" and "The Dark Before the Dawn", which is absolutely amazing for it features lilting celt flutes with a progressive drum beat and an electric guitar towards the middle.

Another marvelous song is "Helms Deep", which is a very upbeat instrumental that starts out with a celtic rock rhythm that soon becomes entangled in what sounds like an electronic organ, which is probably conducted from a keyboard (not to mention the uilleann pipes!), and ends with piercing guitar playing amidst the same driving celt beat. And although 'The Last Bright Light' is fainter and more restrained in sound than most other progressive rock bands, it's good to have an equal balance between the fast and the mellow so this album definitely gets my praises for that...

All in all, 'The Last Bright Light' by Mostly Autumn is a very good album and I highly recommend it to fans of progressive rock that's a bit on the soft side.

Mostly autumn is a neo progressive rock band out of England that seems to market themselves as the heir apparent to Pink Floyd. The band does have a definite Floyd influence, but does not go as far as being a clone. Mostly autumn features duel male and female vocals with the female vox being supplied by the very talented Heather Findlay. The male vocals of Bryon Josh are very similar to David Gilmour from Floyd. This album starts out a bit weak for me, but picks up a considerable amount of steam in its second half. The musicians are all top notch with lots of tasty guitar and keys to be found. The final track on the album, Mother Nature, is a real gem and serves as the culminating finale to the disc. Mostly autumn has garnered a loyal following in their native Europe, but are still relatively unknowns here in the U.S. and their albums are available as Imports only unfortunately. All in all this is a very nice album and should appeal to fans of bands like Pink Floyd or Magenta.

Hace un par de semanas, recibì una llamada del MegaGisbon Ricardo donde me dijo haber leìdo una crìtica de Mostly Autumn redactada por Lord Chimp de este disco...Procedì a leerla y decidì comprar el CD a como diera lugar....Añadir o quitar sobre el juicio realizado por Chimp serìa pretensioso...Mostly Autumn es quizàs la mejor banda progresiva actualmente, poco conocida en USA hasta el mes de octubre donde estaràn brindando un concierto (con Mostly estarà Rick Wakeman en los teclados) junto a Necktar.Tenemos que agradecer a la casa disquera Cyclops el apoyo que està brindando a las bandas progresivas en Europa al punto que el rock progresivo ha vuelto a estar de moda en esas latitudes......Si no tiene este CD, revise su colecciòn, pues, en mi opiniòn, esta incompleta...

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from Mega Gisbon Ricardo telling me that he has read Lord Chimp`s review about The last light bright by Mostly Autumn. I read it and to be honest Lord Chimp critics concerning this CD is perfectly correct...Today, Mostly Autumn is one of the best progg bands, not so well known in the States as in Europe. By the next October, Mostly Autumn will be performing live in concert with Nectar(Rick Wakeman will playing the keyboards) at New Jersey. We have to thanks Cyclops for giving a big support to this new progg groups in Europe: proggresive sound is coming back with new breeds and strong force....Getting back into this CD, I think that your collection might be incomplete if you don't include this album!!

Do you like Pink Floyd, Loreena McKennitt or Marillion at their best ? Do you like music with strong melodies, dreamy atmosphere and awakening by stormy guitars ? Then you must like the group, it is mostly unknown, but quite exceptional.

Mostly Autumn hail from the UK and are the best prog band going today. Kind of a mix of Pink Floyd meets celtic folk. This, their third release finds the band maturing more than their previous effort, "Spirit of Autumn's Past". They are truly what the meaning of progressive rock is. Gilmouresque guitar lines are the lead to this music and the band is tight musically and vocally. Vocals are of the duel variety, male and female. But the female are more of the backing variety although there is some soloing by the femme vox, but male are more prominent. An enjoyable listen by one of the forerunners of this genre.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS I HAVE HEARD FOR YEARS.(MOSTLY AUTUMNS' OTHER TWO ALBUMS ARE JUST AS GOOD).EXCELLENT MUSICIANS, AND OUTSTANDING FEMALE VOCALIST.

This disc is among the top three of the band in the studio and shows the quality. The repertoire is very good since the first song to last. "Hollow", "Prints In The Stone," "The Last Bright Light", "Shrinking Violet" and "Mother Nature" may be the best, but we should not discard the other tracks. There is an engaging blend of folk and progressive rock quality. There is no bad song on this CD. The work was well done by the band. Rarity it was worth the price.