Customer Reviews

Slowly & Gloriously

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this cd really lives up to the name. Its short and sweet, filled with beautiful tracks. Byrne's music is reminicent of the Beatles in its melody and vocal styling. I would recommend this cd to anyone who likes radiohead, sparklehorse, the shins, etc...

Slowly and Gloriously, the title of this six song CD, characterizes the music well. The tracks typically spiral and twist, slowly building in energy, gaining momentum, and rewarding the patient listener.

There is an edge here, almost an underlying sense of dread, that manifests most eminently from the vocals and keyboards of band leader and driving force Patrick Byrne. He tends to play against convention, sometimes invoking a sparse droning style in both vocals and keyboards (listen to the moribund Drinking All Day) then shifting to a lush, sweeping pop style that invokes the Finn brothers (listen to Tidal Wave). On Embers, the main vocals are supplemented by an operatic underscore augmented by a sweeping orchestral backdrop.

The opening track, Waiting for Winter, stands in stark contrast, a low, moody ode to melancholy that eventually segues into an ominous undercurrent of vibrating sounds, all the while propelled along by drumming that seems not to fit at first listen. Sleeping Giant rumbles to life, building in intensity, sweeping the listener deeper into swirling morass of drums, guitars, and keyboards. The merger from Sleeping Giant into the shimmering track Greener shows again that attention to details is worth the while.

In a world gone mad---how else can one explain the ascension of hip-hop, divas, and corporate rock---and the declination of musical skill---Slowly and Gloriously provides a respite for those weary of what the recording industry would foist upon us. In other words, Byrne likely will not make much of a splash in the United States.

A couple of short notes of possible interest: the "Byrntempi" is apparently a modified keyboard that allows Mr. Byrne a great deal of latitude with tones and effects. The rest of the band is Mark Neary on bass, Anthony Christmas on drums and Matt Burke on guitar and vocals. The breakdown of who plays what is not indicated on the CD. The closest recording I can compare this one with is the 1989 release "Hats" by Blue Nile.