Artist: Falling Up
Album: Fangs
Label: BEC
Release Date: 3/24/2009
Reviewer: Tyler Hess
Tracklisting:
1. A Colour Eutopian
2. Lotus and the Languorous
3. Streams of Woe at Acheron
4. Magician Reversed
5. Golden Arrows
6. The King’s Garden
7. Panic and Geo-Primaries
8. The Moon and Sixpence
9. Goddes of the Dayspring, Am I
10. The Sidewinder Flux
11. The Chilling Alpine Adventure
12.Swimming Towards Propellers
Art. It can be a complex thing. Things are conceptual. Artists see things differently sometimes. I remember hearing about an artist who painted people, but as the years went on the people he painted were more and more obscure, to the point where his later paintings were hardly discernible as people. He had a philosophy (a poor one, according to the Word of God), but he stuck with it. The shifts in art reflected the overall philosophy. The reason I bring this up is because of what I’ve heard from Falling Up over the years, as I think that following Falling Up‘s music is a reflection of front man Jessy Ribordy‘s growth as an individual. When they started out, they were young and full of energy. Many of us remember the days of rock anthems and back flips at live shows. When their third real full length, Captiva, came out we were a bit surprised by the slower, more theatrical songs. Well, if you were hoping they’d bounce right back to Crashings or Dawn Escapes (let us all ignore Exit Lights, shall we?), well, you’ve got another thing coming.
Fangs, the fourth full length release (not including that re-mix album that we don’t count and certainly not that “best of” thing that we would all like to imagine does not exist) from Falling Up is truly a continuation of the divergence seen in Captiva, full of keys and synths that seek to relate life experiences through sights and sounds of nature. I remember listening to Jesse say one time that he thought making an album was similar to plotting out a score to a movie, with these grand thoughts of imagery and picturesque panoramas (major paraphrase, not a quote). That was before Captiva, so to see the music go into this phase shouldn’t really be that big of a surprise. Still, it is a bit of a struggle for me to listen to them now. Part of me really wishes they’d write some more radio hits to sing along to, but another part of me just likes to chill out and listen to music that feels like its illustrated. This could pretty much be made into an epic movie soundtrack, something along the lines of a Lord of the Rings montage.
Summary: In reality, this is going to be background music for most people, perhaps something to listen to while trying to fall asleep. If you liked the direction taken with Captiva, you should dig this synth rock stuff.
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