Search - Autumn's Grey Solace :: Within the Depths of a Darkened Forest

Blessed with free will, I'll be lost again

Won Lee | Washington, DC | 02/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The other night, I was starving before a late dinner, and when I'm lacking food, I sometimes get agitated and moody. Later that night, I thought about the things that were troubling me earlier as I listened to this masterpiece of music for about the 40th time in the two weeks I've had it and realized how this album is devoid of anything agitating or aggressive. It is about the opposite of such feelings- beauty, mystery, spirituality, delicacy, longing... Take the gorgeous Lost, with its vocal harmonies like flowing spring water: "blessed with free will, I'll be lost again, hear angels sigh..." In the utterly blissful Shadows of Moonlit Nights, where you can just feel the swaying of trees and her feelings, she describes tree roots this way: "beneath existence their bony feet scamper to their maternal sanctuary, hidden where farness cradles the earth." Yes, these songs are beautifully tied by impressions of nighttime and forests, and the CD artwork puts you in the mood also. The album starts off with what I think is the edgiest of the eight tracks, and a true masterpiece, Resonant Dusk: "yearning to find stars in the sky of this glorious world, moonlight, far seek all that you've dreamed of, stepping on stones, following your heart and letting go, fireflies..." What an antidote to the trickery of our corporate world. My favorite track is next, and her singing "haaaaah" at the end of Forgotten, Fossilized, Archaic sounds to me like sincere expressions from a beautiful female soul. Cast to the Seas in Storms is hypnotizing and so beautifully sung: "forage a trueness before my eyes, soon will be a falling rain on top of all our sorrows." What an amazing singer Erin Welton really is- every phrasing and tone is perfect and heartfelt. All of these songs have different personalities, and Eve is so refreshingly chill and seductive: "and so I fall into you..." Her vocals in Eve and Cast to the Seas remind me of Liz Fraser. And there is definitely an affection they have for Love Spirals Downwards in the guitar sound of Forgotten, Fossilized, Archaic and Shadows of Moonlit Nights. And Resonant Dusk's sustained guitar line sounds like Slowdive (such a great shift at 2:24!).



When I google them, I mainly get their band and myspace sites, and one interview. It would be nice to know more about them. You guys are that good, and I look forward to picking up the rest of your albums."