Customer Reviews

Selenography

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

 

 

If you have never heard the Rachel's, go now and make it your goal to hear them. Selenography is much like their past albums, though I think the sound is a bit sleeker. Grimes, Frederickson, and Noble's compositions are always of pure beauty, and this album is full of songs, without some of the filler past albums have had. Put it on and dream of a place where things are a little more beautiful.

Stark like an artic winter's night, warm like green grass on a clear summer's day. Beautiful like fire dancing, ugly like life. A post-rock orchastral album for everyone (even your mom!) that takes what is best about Dirty Three, Godspeed you black emperor, and everyone else mining this territory and surpasses them all.

This is probably their best recording yet. They sound more confident than on earlier releases. For the uninitiated, start here.

Would you like instrumental music with violins, pianos, harpsichords? This would be perfect. It will want to make you drift away into the wind. Most of the songs have the same formula -- soothing pianos and violins, especially "A French Galleasse" but that's a good thing. A few unique tracks are "Kentucky Noctourne," a warm, comforting western violin tune, "An Evening of Long Goodbyes," some interesting percussion and feeling, "The Mysterious Dissapearance of Louis LePrince," an eerie, electronic tune, and finally my favorite: "Honeysuckle Suite," a serenade of three different parts, played by a lovely harpsichord. The 10 bandmembers love what they do, and this is a must-have for lovers of neoclassical or post-rock music. Don't miss out!

I love the way it starts, with an almost traditional alternative rock rhythm, on all the wrong instruments, before it gives way to familiar sounding piano, harpsichord and gorgeous neo-classical songs. It would be entirely wrong to suggrest that this is inaccessible music - it's delicate, hard, soft and fascinating. Their own voices grow too. wheras several times in the past, the shadow of Michael Nyman has drifted over their albums, more and more, they sound like nothing else. Buy this album - give them your money, they probably need it with there being ten of 'em.

Much like previous work from the band, the new disc is utterly unlike anything you will hear elsewhere. Haunting, resonant, beautiful, it is difficult for me not to sound trite or fawning. Buy it and listen to it many times, purchase a copy for an unenlightened friend while you are at it.

Satisfying instrumental post-rock with a heavy classical slant can seem fleeting at times in minor key ruminations or mildly pretentious soundscapes, but tends to be mostly engaging and interestingly assembled to boot.

Think of Mannheim Steamroller's "Fresh Aire" series, but less commercial. Imagine Cirque Du Soleil, but without the ethnic touch. Envision Tortoise, Broken Social Scene or Do Make Say Think, but without the experimental layers. At the end of the day, in a sweet spot somewhere among those musical "neighbors" lies the music captured in "Selenography".

Typically labeled a post-rock group, the American trio resembles more a classical ensemble, yet their music evades tags as easily as they are able to capture your imagination with it. Rachel's turns out to be one of those bands you typically haven't heard of. Yet, they seem to like it like that, while they stick to making their great music away from the crowds.