Search - This Beautiful Mess :: Falling on Deaf Ears

Great emo, great shoegaze, or great space rock

Terrin Lonehart | 04/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Falling on Deaf Ears" by This Beautiful Mess commences with droning white noise, when passionate guitar work and Arjen Van Wijk's equally passionate voice suddenly emerge. This spectacular introduction only indicates that this album brims over with emotion, so much of which that it generates bittersweet memories that may stick in your head for eternity. As stated above, the opening, "Black Is The New Red", begins as background noise that evolves into bursting melodies. Shortly after, "Overexposed" pours into your ears with airy guitars and exploding static. Then there's "Cacophonic", which kicks off with spacey guitars that are soon overtaken by trippy beats. "Fly Anna Fly" comes next, proving to be a slower, mournful romance song. "Clean" loses some of the ambience of the preceding tunes, but its smooth riffs and poignant lyrics compensate. Then there is "Soundtrack of My Life." After some ventilation-humming, the song morphs into a huge expanse of strong vocals and volcanic keyboarding. The song finishes gorgeously with ethereal noises, sounding somewhat like crickets and windshield wipers. Next is "Sola Gratia", which has more of those airy guitars and distorted drumbeats, accompanied by electronics that eddy in the background. "Kill" comes next, starting with low guitars, heartbeat noises, and a strange clicking sound. "21st Advent Hymn", perhaps the highlight, sparkles magically with almost Christmas-like ambience that showers down heavily on the listener. The short and sweet "Here I Stand" is next, followed by the concluding instrumental track called "Last Day's Embrace." First, there's a synthesized choir, then there's a beautiful piano, then there are mysterious squeaks, gurgles and scratches, all in all producing a soundscape highly reminiscent of Tangerine Dream. Just like the album initiated flawlessly, the album ends flawlessly. In fact, the ending is more notable than any other out there. If you want emo, if you want shoegaze, or if you want space rock, or if you just want something that's extremely good, give this album a listen."