Customer Reviews

Livonia

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The first true album by His Name is Alive, _Livonia_ was born in the basement of 18 year-old Warren Defever and was based on musical structures he had been composing since he was 15. Although plainly adolescent in style with its evoking of angst, _Livonia_ is a set of sweeping airy songs, which are minimal (due to Defever's lack of anything more than a 4-track recorder) without being minimalist. Each song flows into the next creating a record that is suprisingly coherent and cohesive. It's wonderful...

Words could not accurately express the beauty and wonder of the songs "As We Could Ever" and "You and I Have Seizures," so I have no choice but to suggest that you take my word for it and listen to _Livonia_.

This album is about the only music that I have ever heard that in itself is genuinely scary. The sound is bare and understated, but is very emotionally sophisticated, and probably stands as the best introduction to these guys' art. This is not your typical goth cheese, but in its heart, it is so evil, that if you took this disc out into sunlight, it would turn to ashes.
See Brothers Quay- they've used this album extensively.

People who know the constant changes in sound His Name Is Alive go through tend to view each change as a progression. "Livonia" is their first full length album which showcases their finest acheivements in their early sparse, gothic phase. Though "Home Is In Your Head" gave a few wonderful tracks (out of 23 sound bytes basically,) their structureless song style was never more well recieved than on "Livonia." Particularly, the first track "As We Could Ever" blends a beautiful mesh of sounds and music with a single heavenly voice lulling sometimes nonsensical, sometimes brilliant lyrics. This track also finds it's way creatively into many other HNIA tunes from their later albums (check out the very end of Stars on ESP.)

Though this was not my favorite period for this band, this album does deserve it's honorable mention and attention. Think what you will about 4AD, but who else would've dared take a chance on a group this unconventional, bizarre, and breath-taking?

This is a beautiful, sometimes scary album that is also very well recorded. Though many of the tracks are just snippets and can seem insignificant when taken out of context, as a whole this is a very haunting work.

Some songs are very minimal, with simple tape loops or distorted basslines in background. Other songs are more 'feedbacky' or lush and orchestrated. There are even a couple of 'rock' sounding numbers.

A strangely approachable, though entirely unconventional disc.

No one who listens to the music that His Name Is Alive has been recording for well over the past decade is going to be able to deny that Warren Defever composes tracks that are rich with the typically universal features that have come to be associated with streamlined, highly melodic songs that unwind in a traditional structured manner. He's been recording music since 1985 and a number of his mature works have met with almost universal acclaim from both critics and an ever-developing fanbase alike. But his work has evolved toward this state; it didn't begin that way.

"Livonia", his first CD, was released in 1990 by 4AD. Along with its follow-up, "Home Is In your Head", the typical elements that a traditional listener is going to universally associate with a song that progresses in a linear fashion have been deconstructed. John Fryer, serving as sort of an in-house engineer for 4AD, reassembled what Defever regarded as straightforwardly recorded material in somewhat of a cut-up fashion, stitching them together into kind of a proto-darkwave collection of tracks that retains some sort of progressive structure, but with a strong collagist formation, that, despite what some critics and fans of the label thought, weren't merely a derivative pastiche of 4AD's more atmospheric bands.

Some real moments of beauty exist on Livonia. A teenager at the time that he recorded the original versions, Defever's lyrics (and titles) are reflective of a somewhat darkly introspective frame of mind ("You And I Have Seizures", "Caroline's Supposed Demon", "How Ghosts Affect Relationships), and a somwehat universally wistful quality, as if he were already growing nostalgic for emotional states or previous experiences that he might never be able to definitively recapture. And this sense of pensive meditation lends a melancholy tinge to the soundscapes the lyrics are embedded within, most apparent in tracks such as "If July", "As We Could Ever", "Fossil", "Some And I","Darkest Dreams" and "How Ghosts Affect Relationships". John Fryer's cut-up approach might have been responsible for the overall moodiness and sinister ambience of "Livonia", but Damian Lang and Defever also need to be recognized as rapidly maturing artists on their respective instruments (percussion for Lang, bass and all guitars for Defever) capable of delivering some explosive, cathartic performances ,leavened with grace, delicacy, and sensitivity. Both Angie Carozzo and Karin Oliver contribute surprisingly mature vocals with real passion and range.

My own copy of "Livonia" is a Rykodisc reissue of this release containing a bonus instrumental track, "Livonia". And while it's a slightly mellow and intriguing coda to the original material, it's not strictly necessary, and was struck when the current version of this CD was reissued on import. If you're only familiar with Defever's mature work, you should buy this just to get a sense of how polished he was already becoming during his formative years as a musician; for me, "Livonia" and "Home Is In Your Head" remain the best of His Name Is Alive.

I think it's criminally embarrassing that I happen to be from Livonia and only recently discovered that HNIA is from this town. Why anyone would want to name an album advertising the fact that he or she is from the whitest city with a population of over 100,000 in the entire US, I don't know, but god-damn, where has this album been all my life? I absolutely love this style of music and I'm just beyond stunned that I only recently became familiar with this group. It's a crime that a band (or more accurately, an artist) of this consistent a level of prolifacy and creativity should go so underrated.

The only thing that bugs me about the album is the vocals on "How Ghosts Affect Relationships." Generally, I believe in the subjectivity of delivery for almost every form of music, but I just can't listen straight through this track, at least not yet. Maybe sooner or later.

Overall, the album contains some beautiful atmospherics of which its namesake is totally undeserving (yes, if you've not grasped it already, though I grew up in Livonia, it is an achingly boring town with not much to call its own besides, well, His Name Is Alive, thank God). Never before have I been proud to be from Livonia until now.

This debut release by Livonia, Michigan's His Name Is Alive is a startling journey through a dark underground, where only those that can unravel the sounds will get any sense from the recording. On that note, it's a great CD. Tracks like "Fossil" and "Caroline's Supposed Demon" all carry on the "death" theme of this CD. It's not easy listening, but by the third or fourth spin you'll love it.

All of those words describe the debut album of Livonia, Michigan's His Name Is Alive. This was the first album I bought from them and it changed my life forever. This is in my top 10 of best albums I have ever heard. The whole album has a very dark, gloomy mood to it and is definetly the most gothic they have put out. It starts with a vocal loop which you can't make out what Karin is saying then it goes into As We Could Ever. Their are a couple songs on here that are intor's to the other full lenght versions of the songs such as E-nicole and Fossil. Stand out for me on here are Fossil. The lyrics are very evil and somewhat sick but in a beautiful way. If July is a very beautiful acoustic piece which features some buzzing guitar in parts of the song. Some And I is very up front and Karin's vocal delivery sounds very dominent on this song. My ultimate favorite song on here, which might be my very favorite HNIA song all together is the one most fans seem to dislike the most on the album. How Ghosts Affect Relationships. The lyrics are beautiful and dark and it's the perfect depression song. Angie sings on this one and I believe this was the only album she did for HNIA. If you like goth, dark, disturbing, painful music you need this in your collection. if this kind of music is too much for you i would recomend their later releases like Mouth By Mouth, Stars On ESP or Ft. Lake. Really Ft. Lake is the last album to get from HNIA since for me and most of thier other fans the band died after that album. Warren made the biggest mistake of his life kicking karin out of the band and substituting her with a gospel, r&b singer, Lovetta Pippen. Their the band was completely transfromed to an r&b group being a completely different band with the same name. I am hopeful that for most people reading this if they do decide to buy this album give it a few listens. As I said this is in my top 10 of favorite albums and was my first one for the band. If you like dark music like Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil and Clan Of Xymox this will be right up your alley.

Based upon home recordings made by basement auteur Warren Defever from 1985-1989, remixed for wide release in 1990 by 4AD head honcho Ivo Watts-Russell and his This Mortal Coil cohort, John Fryer, "Livonia" is a fascinating slab of old-school gothic folk.

The prevalent themes throughout are death, reincarnation, ghosts and transcending the everyday world. It can all be a little forboding, but the music is so cleverly constructed and the album flows so nicely, it never bogs you down. In fact, you'll probably want to put the CD player on repeat and just listen to it over and over.

Heavily influenced by the classic "4AD sound," "Livonia" is full of dark melodies, gentle female vocals, sound collages, and the occasional near-heavy-metal guitar outburst. Granted, this style of music is not for everyone. But if goth, 4AD or eerie folk is your thing, you either already own this album, or must buy it now.

often compared to the Cocteau Twins early records, this Michigan based band makes moody music that is more ethereal than creepy. there is a dark and ominous atmosphere in these songs. some tracks are loosely organized pieces of sound drifting freely in and out; and it sounds like a hazy nightmare slowly taking form. then the lovely voice begins to glide from the heavens and the colour of these pieces become a bit more pastel...more opaque. an intriguing and haunting listening experience.