Search - Millbrook :: Cathedrals

Beautiful. Grandiose. Gorgeous. All the superlatives you can

BlueGlassFall | Corona, CA United States | 10/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beautiful. Grandiose. Gorgeous. All the superlatives you can bring to mind would fall short of describing Millbrook and specifically, Cathedrals.



The first track, Meet Me in the Fields, begins mildly, yet gets bigger and grander as the song progresses, until, as one singer/songwriter stated, "It out-Jethro Tulls Jethro Tull!" It's so beautiful that you almost can't take it.



After you compose yourself after the grandeur of Meet Me in the Fields, your first thought is, "They can't possibly get better than this." And that is where you would be wrong. The harmonies, lyrics and guitar riffs in Crude Model of You are sublime. Then the retro Whitegirl does things that the original music style never did. By the time the wonderfully quirky fourth track, Mr. Golightly, offers, "I cordially invite you to fall in love with me," you realise, "I already have!" Then you come to the grande finale. The sublime music and lyrics of Geisha Doll carry you off in rapture and make you fall in love instantly with the object of his affection, and with the songwriter, for penning such beauty.



The WORST thing about Cathedrals is that you don't want it to end (happily, you can queue the album up and listen to it again and again)! The BEST thing about Millbrook is that you can't compare them to any artist, stating, "They sound like such-and-such", because their music is so unique. The only comparison that came to mind as I listened to the album is the same that came to another musicphile friend of mine, which is that it has a Beatlesque flavour. He also stated that they will probably always be compared a bit to Rufus Wainwright.



Indeed. Yet with all due respect to the Fab Four ("They were the first and they were the best"), there is clearly way more talent in Millbrook. And I daresay that Cathedrals rivals even the work of Mr. Wainwright.



With well over 15,000 songs and hundreds of albums in my personal collection, I clearly love music. I have always been hard-pressed to pick my favourite artist or album, much less my favourite song. However, this album would definitely be one I would choose if I could keep only one."