Skies A Crossed Sky

Bethany Curve | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 1, 1996)
• Original Release Date: March 1, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: United Circle
• ASIN: B00000G4BB
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,343 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sweet whirlpool of delicious chewy noise!, June 29, 2006

By 

obliv "obliv" (edge city) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skies A Crossed Sky (Audio CD)

having been in a shoegazing mood lately, i found myself surfing the web for some purveyours of that pedal drenched noise that seems to quench a very thirsty part of my soul. i had run through my catalogue of usual suspects..MBV, slowdive, JAMC, and my personal faborite, ride. i wouldnt say i got tired of them, more like they made me hungry for new stuff, just to see if the torch had indeed been passed.

i was aware of some of the next generation of shoegazers...nu-gazers, if you will (although lets hope our scene never produces a fredo like fred durst...hence, my fear of "nu" anything...) starflyer59 are a good example of really old school sounding dream pop. i really like autolux as well, and while i dont necessarily think he's a direct descendant of the shoegaze line, ulrich schnauss has kind of grown ion me. my wife played his record as we went to sleep pretty mucn nonstop for a couple months. anyway, i felt the need to dig deeper, and stumbled across bethany curve. i checked out a song on itunes, then another, and before you know it, i had downloaded their entire catalogue.

if you ever had a sweetspot for shoegazing, this is a must have band in your collection. solid pop numbers sit alongside dreamy atmospherics, and the result is a lulling, almost trancelike seductionand it is this swirl of sound, fast and propulsive followed by longer, more ambient numbers, then another poppier bit just to snap you from your trance.

the dreamier numbers use layer of effects and washes of sound over lush vocals buried deep in the mix. the pop numbers use chiming guitar chords as the solid center for catchy melodies and propulsive baggy beats, then they swaddle that in the same cottony, billowing layers, and voila...you have a perfect dream pop concoction.

the band they immediately reminded me of was kitchens of distinction, or maybe curve (which, given the name of the band, i have ton think is no accident). i think their melodies are stronger than either of those two, if you were to take simply \ the chord progression and hooks, and remove the approach , the melodies recall a lot of early emo, a la, saves the day or jets to brazil. again, that is only in the notes on the page or played on the instrument. they both share the taste for minor key dirge-y hooks. that similarity stops there, however...no need for any punk aggression or soaring vocal lines. bethany curve are content to set the bait, drp the line and sit and wait for the listener. once theyve got you, though, theyve got you!

as i said, i downloaded their entire catalogue, and have had it playing on repeat for a few nights now, i decided to give the records the attention they deserved and listen to them in order. this, being the first, has obviously had the longest to soak in, and it does its best to set the bar very high for the rest of the band's output. having sampled the catalogue before taking a serious bite, there is no apparent dropoff in the quality of the bands output. i am really looking forward to exploring the worlds of dreamy sound inside these lusciously dense songs.

i withhold that 5th star simply b/c i believe they can make an even greater record.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The gloomier side of shoegazer, March 6, 2007

By 

trainreader (Montclair, N.J.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skies A Crossed Sky (Audio CD)

Even for an old shoegazer fan like me, Bethany's Curve's music with it's downright melancholic and ominous sounds and largely unintelligible lyrics, takes some getting use to. It was this website that led to my "discovery" of Bethany Curve (BC) after I had previously discovered the much more accessible band Voyager One, (V1) when I was trying to find other bands in the shoegazer genre. While both V1 and BC owe much to The Verve, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, and perhaps early Pink Floyd, BC is the much heavier band -- think the Cure's "Pornography," as opposed to The Verve's "Storm in Heaven," which is more V1s style. With BC, as opposed to V1, I really had to listen several time before I truly "got it." But I'm glad I persevered.

BC's debut, "Skies A Crossed Sky," contains long slowly developing atmospheric songs, with infathomable (perhaps pretentious) titles such as "troly," "grand shanka," "spacirilie," and "terpsichore." On the inside of the cd cover are the following apropos words: "atmosphere, arrangement, sound layering, noise." After the listed 13 songs conclude, the band does some real experimentation which could be part of a multi-sensory exhibit at the Whitney Museum (ala The Stone Roses at the conclusion of "Seconds Coming"). But stick with this album -- it works.

The first track "Vanish" sets the stage for all that follows. Gloomy swirling melodies with lots of distortion and feedback. "Troly," and some other tracks provided an odd Eastern European feel. With the best song on the album "Spacerilei," the band rocks a bit with a heavy drum beat surrounded by the usual distorted minor-key guitar chords -- truly a remarkable song.

Track five (terpsichord) could be something that early Catherine Wheel might have done. Track seven ("Mot Juste") a short instrumental, sounds almost reminiscent of the intro to U2s, "Where the Streets Have No Name," whereas the following track ("Follow from Swallow") oddly combines the feel of early Pink Floyd with what Interpole would sound like years later.

According to I-tunes, the 12th track ("Serene and Smiling") is one of the bands most downloaded tracks, probably because it's a little less murky than the others ( but still on the depressing side). Interestingly, the band's last song (that's listed) "Almost Perception," is easily the most accessible. In fact, it sort of reminds me of Oasis -- which, believe me, is quite a departure from the rest.

A terrific debut for an extremely intriguing band, and a nice counterpoint to Voyager One. The work of both bands must be explored by every shoegazer fan.

5.0 out of 5 stars The New CD Purchase, November 4, 2008

By 

Luis Rodriguez Lopez "Jordan Rodriguez" (San Juan, PR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skies A Crossed Sky (Audio CD)

It's a good CD to listen to possibly all day, all night. With a number of songs to listen to almost constantly, it's even definitely worth it. After listening to songs like, "vanish" and especially "sandblaster", I'm really glad I got it in the first place.