Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Taken From Silence Magazine, August 26, 2005
Chad VanGaalen has a deliciously haunting voice.
Infiniheart, released on obscure Canadian label, Flemish Eye, where Chad resides hasn't gotten around, simply because it can't. Luckily my faith to Good Records in Dallas put me in contact with yet another diamond in the rough.
VanGaalen who has been recording for over ten years with experimental instrumental music, introduces his homemade violin, finger piano, clarinets, and harp. He also accompanies these instruments with your traditional saxophone, organ, sitar, xylophone, and as he states in his liner notes, "a bunch of others."
Clocking in at over an hour and five minutes, this 19 track doozy is a bit overwhelming. The album is solid from start to finish, but I still find it intimidating when trying to sit down for an entire album listen, and I have to tire through 19 songs, even if they are all noteworthy.
Most of the tracks are a collection of songs recorded since 2001 with the exception of, "Clinicly Dead," "Traffic," and "Red Blood." When "Clinicly Dead" first hit my speakers, it burst and caught my attention but my first reaction was, "great, another band trying to capitalize off the Arcade Fire / Interpol phenomena. As this album's plot unfolds however, it's all but. Infiniheart should have cued me in from the beginning as this record completely blind-sided me. The album takes off and carries infinitely in every direction. "After The Afterlife," track number two, graciously cues the folk guitar intro and Chad sinks our infinihearts with his line, "You are not awake."
There are simply too many songs to touch on but let's see how far I get. "Kill Me In My Sleep," begins with an electronic beat and acoustic guitar, as Chad creates his eerie mood of a predator eyeing his prey. Again I couldn't help but fall for VanGaalen's creepy, creepy vocals. Although known around his home as the bedroom experiment alist, his vocals on this debut album are what bring each song alive, and it's the complimenting instrumentation that will make this a memorable album. As Chad keeps us dreaming with an instrumental section at the end of "Kill Me In My Sleep," we continue to fall down the rabbit hole with the unrecognizable homemade sounds of, "The Warp Zone."
Cleverly titled, "1000 Pound Eyelids," stuck out during the first few listens, most likely because I share a similar experience. Kids, don't drive on no sleep. Opening with a light trumpet, we're welcomed into a hazy world that we wish was a dream. You know, that moment where you know you just f#$@ed up bad. "What just happened to us I think I feel asleep at the wheel / I'm super sorry but my eyes got really heavy and the last thing I remember is your smile," sings VanGaalen as this almost love song blames his mistakes on his hopeless romantic tendencies. Trumpet: fade out (Song Over).
And thus, the direction for this album is over. Yes, so many great, memorable songs, but if there's one thing I can complain about this album is the lack of unity. There are simply too many songs to make this a perfect fit. Small complaint, it truly is, but perhaps it keeps it from scoring in the high 90's.
-Dustin Reid (2004)
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bedroom Rock At It's Finest..., August 23, 2005
I first heard of Chad VanGaalen over Soma FM's excellent Indie Pop Rocks webcast. The song was Echo Train, and like the album, it was infectious and haunting. So I picked up the album from the original distributor and was shocked that until now, he wasn't receving the kind of exposure he deserved. Alternating between heart breaking pop meolodies and nightmare inducing imagery, Infiniheart is powerful, complex and ultimately, highly accessible.
Reviews for an underexposed artist tend to make comparisons with other musicians, and VanGaalen has been compared to everything from Flaming Lips and Neil Young to Modest Mouse and others...I tend to think of him as a true original, forging ahead in new territory. His guitar work is unconvential and inventive, his drum beats are unpredictable and suit the mood, and most interestingly he uses some reportedly home-made instruments.
Whether you like to believe it or not, self-produced bedroom rock is the wave of the future and Infiniheart stands at the top of the mountain with the best. I'm glad that Sub-Pop picked this record up for wider distribution, and you will be too - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Personal standouts are the aforementioned Echo Train, Clinicly Dead and Human Totem.
|
|
|
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
bedroom pop at it's finest, September 22, 2005
Although complaints about this album lacking complete cohesion are correct this record is still excellent. While some tracks obviously do not fit very well in the concept of the record they are very easy to forget with songs like "Clinically Dead" and "Somewhere I Know There is Nothing" coming out of your stereo. A debut worth having from an artist that should only get better down the line.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
by Chad VanGaalen 
