|
Issue
#115
Feb. ‘09
There are two ways to discover
a band – and when I
say discover, I mean find their music enjoyable enough to listen to a
whole
album and dig it enough to connect with the artist in ways that are
unique to
you as an individual. When the music, in one way or another, touches
your soul,
captures your emotions, articulates to you in ways that can be a
euphoric release…
– and those two ways are:
1). Hear the very 1st
album and, having
fallen under its spell, continue to acquire and listen to subsequent
albums.
2). Hear a later album and,
having fallen under its
spell, continue to acquire and listen to previous (back catalogue)
albums.
Number two makes
things a little harder on a reviewer.
If I can form an
opinion on a band from their 1st
album, I’m pretty much interested in how their sound may
grow, change, adapt,
and endure in subsequent albums. That in fact is the beauty of being
present as
an artist creates in real time, as opposed to studying artists of the
past (imagine
if you were able to drop by Michelangelo’s house and see what
particular
painting or sculpture he’s working on this year).
But, to find a band
like annabella through their 2nd
album, “Say Goodnight”
(the IndepenDisc
July ’08 Feature), and be smitten -
smitten to the point where I wanted to see where this album had been
brought
forth from - necessitates listening to the 1st
album, “Songs of Goodbye.”
It was a required
logic that needed tending to.
Songs
of Goodbye
is a collection of songs saying Good Bye. Good Bye to various people
that have
been in and out of our lives, so much so that we may fail to realize
it. Until,
all of a sudden, your mind wrestles the soothing lyrics away from the
brilliant
musical arrangements that the husband and wife team of Tim
& Terri Dittmar are dancing about our subconscious.
That is
when these songs shine into us; the barebones acoustic guitar / synth /
organ /
flute work off each other as the vocals lay over and sail through. annabella creates works that are
full-bodied with complex arrangements so that we can hear, understand,
and
realize how their 2nd album, “Say
Goodnight,” was able to overwhelm our senses.
To get to the heart
of Songs
of Goodbye, I can only point you in the direction of Say Goodnight. For the 2nd
album by annabella, we described
the sound as “a spine tingling swoon
that flirts with grunge, baroque jazz, soft
rock, neo-electronica, synth-pop, and a more modern form of folk that
updates Americana with a unique, coy, sparse flavoring.”
Now take that and dial it back to a leaner form, but keep the
professional
high-quality studio work. annabella exemplifies
talent in the studio and on record; it is displayed on Songs
of Goodbye and even more so, gives us an appreciative glimpse
at what was to evolve and become Say
Goodnight. Say Goodnight
also
inherited from Songs of Goodbye,
“a spot-on musical composition style
that has
a way of capturing us, and reeling our emotions in to a place of
transcendental
fascination.”
Songs
of Goodbye
was released in 2005, it is a stunning debut album.
Say Goodnight was
released in 2008,
it is an amazing follow up album.
Tim
& Terri Dittmar, annabella,
mod folk, indeed.
annabella
- Songs of Goodbye
is available now for: $10.98 + s/h*
*Shipping
&
Handling charges:
USA - $3.00
for the first 2 CDs
ordered,
Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the
first
CD ordered,
Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00
for the
first CD ordered,
Add $3.00 per each CD after.
|
