Customer Reviews

Signal to Noise

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

 

 

I was a little concerned when I heard White Willow had lost its female vocalist and gotten another.

I am glad to say my fears were unfounded.

Their new female vocalist is wonderful.

And this album is wonderful, too.

I like it even better than their last (Storm Season) because it is not QUITE so far toward the metal end of the spectrum.

They have incorporated SOME metal, but mostly they have reverted to their earlier, and folkier, and more classical (and better) stuff.

Exceptionally wonderful prog rock: melodic, varied, unexpected, beautifully constructed, involving.

I've loved White Willow from the first note I heard. And I am proud to say that this album doesn't change that. I didn't like "Storm Season," as much as all the other albums. It explored a little darker and heavier side of the band, which was nice for something different, but the heaviness and more aggressive singing didn't feel natural for the band. I'm glad they didn't go farther into that direction. This album gets away from that a little and revisits their more melodic side, although some aggressiveness still lingering especially in the first track, "Night Surf."

The Instrumentation includes many Keyboards, mellotrons, and mini-moogs as usual, also some woodwinds, and grand piano. Now to be completely honest, I had no idea there was a new vocalist until I saw it mentioned. Trude Eidtang has as wonderful a voice as Sylvia Erichsen, not to mention they sound quite similar.

On every one of their albums there has been at least one song that is especially enchanting, something out of this world, something while listening you wonder just how they possibly came up with something so brilliant. On this album, originally, I believed that song was "Splinters." This is a softer song for the most part, with a slightly heavier chorus; the vocal melodies pierce through the soft keyboard melodies and send chills down your spine.

After a month or so of many listens, "Joyride" seems like the best song here. The title is very fitting, because from the first instant, this is one of the most Joyful tunes I have ever heard. It really is a Joyride. "The Dark Road" is probably my third favorite song, similarly brimming with enormously blissful harmonies, except it is slower paced.

Like I said, I'm very pleased with this album especially after the previous one. If you like White Willow be sure to check out Paatos, Pineforest Crunch, and Anglagard.

this music just seems tame and uneventful to me . The soloists are adequate , the arrangements are perfunctory , the songs are decent basic ideas that need more development . Sort of Mostly Autumn with something missing.

Another two years went by between releases and a major personnel change took place. Founding vocalist Sylvia Erichsen left the band after the previous album. Considering how much White Willow's sound was associated with Erichsen's unique vocal style her departure would be huge shoes to fill. Fortunately band leader Jacob Holm-Lupo found vocalist Trude Eidtang who fills in admirably and I honestly think that this is the band's best album yet. Eidtang's voice is similar to Erichsen so there is not a major change in the band's sound. The music is not quite as heavy and dark as the last album although things still can still set a somber tone as in the excellent opening track "Night Surf". This album may not be proggy enough for the band's traditional hard core fan base indeed some of the songs even remind me of band's like The Sunday's from back in the early 90's especially on songs like "Joyride". The music is a bit more straight forward, but to my ears it works. Other highlights include the gothic metallic "Ghosts" the prog-ish "Dusk City" and "The Lingering". Really I like every track on this album and think it is the best the band has done so far.

Since Signal To Noise is my first outing with the music of White Willow, I can't compare it to the group's previous efforts. But after many listens, I have come to appreciate the band to a certain degree. The problem, as one reviewer pointed out, is the problem of classification. The band was recommended to me as a prog band, but Signal To Noise is not a prog album. Yeah, you hear prog elements, but you also hear metal and darkly goth elements as well.
To me, the best track is the powerful Dusk City, but I also find Night Surf, Ghosts, and The Lingering interesting.
There is enough to like on Signal To Noise to spur me to seek out some earlier White Willow albums even though I am aware that there will be a different vocalist. But based on what I've heard here, I much prefer another Swedish group (Paatos) whose style is in a similar vein.

This disc is a curious blending of Prog music and Goth vocals. On paper, this looks like a combination that can't possibly work. But, it works very well here. There is a somewhat dark, ethereal quality that permeates the entire disc in a way that many bands can't quite touch. The bands new vocalist, Trude Eidtang has a depth and timbre that the band's previous vocalist, Sylvia Erichsen lacked. The music threads a needle between King Crimson and Pure Reason Revolution. While the lyrics and the female vocalist would not seem out of place to fans of Within Temptation or Lacuna Coil. This combination is hard to describe, but it works.

I bought this cd based on other reviews and seeing it in people's listmanias. What a disappointment. It seems WW can't make up their mind what type of sound they want. It's all over the place. Most songs sound like Kate Bush and even The Sundays (Joyride). For good measure a goth metalish song (Ghost) is thrown in. The only song that has a progressive feel to it is Splinters. This disc lacks any kind of consistency whatsoever. On one positive note, I did like the female vocals. Just pick a style and work with it!