Coheed and Cambria
“Year of the Black Rainbow”
(Columbia)
Developing a successful rock act in the year 2010 is a multimedia project.
Coheed and Cambria’s new release is the prequel to a four-album story arc called The Amory Wars which has companion comics and graphic novels. Fan websites scrutinize the details of the band’s tale. The deluxe edition of “Year of the Black Rainbow” includes, among other things, a 352-page novel written by singer-songwriter-musician Claudio Sanchez. And the video for recent single “The Broken” is a stellar sci-fi trip.
Pairing music and visual art is not new — Pink Floyd, anyone? — but this is taking prog rock way over “The Wall.”
So, what about the music?
If Coheed and Cambria’s methods are new, their sound is not. The well-composed “Black Rainbow” could find an audience any time in the last four decades.
But this is not to say the album sounds stale. “Here We Are Juggernaut” is a memorable, thrilling rock song that achieves power not by sharp screams and guitars but with its fuzzy high points. “World of Lines” and “The Broken” share this distorted rock glory.
In the context of the postmodern music environment, it may be a surprise that “Black Rainbow” is above all things a love story. Sanchez sings of undeserved love, lost love and love’s pain, and dedicates the album to his wife.
Yes, there is love even in times of war.
— Judy Long
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Goldfrapp
“Head First”
(Mute)
Alison Goldfrapp is known for being a David Bowie-style (or probably more accurately, a Madonna-style) musical chameleon. Her 2000 debut with composer and synth player Will Gregory, “Felt Mountain,” was indebted to trip-hop and slinky spy movie scores, follow-ups “Black Cherry” and “Supernature” looked to glam rock and Giorgio Moroder electro-disco for inspiration, and 2008’s “Seventh Tree” took a pastoral, folky direction.
So it should be no surprise that Goldfrapp’s latest, “Head First,” features another radical reinvention. Goldfrapp and Gregory return to dance music here, but with a pronounced nod to the synth sounds of the ’80s, drawing some critical complaints that the pair are showing up late to the ’80s synthpop party led by Ladyhawke, La Roux, Cut Copy and numerous other acts.
While the criticism is easy to understand, it’s misguided; “Head First” may not win many points for originality, but it’s infinitely more enjoyable than the soporific “Seventh Tree,” and Gregory and Goldfrapp are so good at crafting perfect pop music that it seems silly to get caught up fretting about their use of secondhand sounds. Instead, immerse yourself in euphoric first single “Rocket,” which steals the blasting synth sound from Van Halen’s “Jump” for a sly kiss-off to a former lover.
Embrace the twinkling ’80s melodrama of “Dreaming,” which once again proves that Goldfrapp is a better singer than any of her contemporaries, and rock out to the fist-pumping chorus of “I Wanna Life,” which nods to the “Flashdance” theme song, of all things. And for anyone still worried about whether Goldfrapp and Gregory have any original ideas left, album closer “Voicething,” a spare electronic ballad featuring cut-up and layered vocal sounds from Goldfrapp, should lay those fears to rest.
— Travis Gass
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Anais Mitchell
“Hadestown”
(Righteous Babe)
It is an absolute crime that the media have largely ignored Anais Mitchell’s wonderful new album, “Hadestown.” It’s not surprising, though: she’s a folk artist operating outside of both the mainstream and the next-big-thing blogosphere. She’s not hip and ironic; nor is she willfully eccentric. The Vermont native has made a name for herself in folk clubs around the country, and “Hadestown,” her third full-length, is a career-defining recording.
It’s a “folk opera” based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with a cast of singer-songwriter luminaries filling each role in the 20-song cycle. Mitchell is Eurydice, and the angelic-voiced Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is Orpheus. Folksinger Greg Brown growls and sneers as Hades, and Ani DiFranco ups the sass as Hades’ wife, Persephone. The Haden Triplets (Petra, Rachel and Tanya) voice the Fates, and Ben Knox Miller of the Low Anthem is the messenger Hermes.
The plot follows the original myth, but transplants it into a walled in the modern day, in which a gold mine run by the corrupt Hades, and the townsfolk trade their freedom for security. The music is equal parts Tom Waits junkyard percussion, Appalachian string orchestra and Kurt Weill-esque cabaret. It’s terrifically fun, except when it’s sad and moving.
While a few of the songs falter and drag, the majority of the album is an evocative exploration on what it means to be free, and what love can do to people. Tracks such as “Wedding Song” and “Why We Build the War” soar with gorgeous melodies, while the barnstorming theme song of sorts, “Way Down Hadestown” will be stuck in your head for days. It’s excellent work that should be in the headphones of more music fans.
— Emily Burnham
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Jonsi
“Go”
(XL Recordings)
Fans of Sigur Ros are familiar with the band’s lush landscapes — landscapes that evoke the glaciers and frozen tundra of their native Iceland, with Jonsi Birgisson’s light voice floating above it all like a vocal Aurora. In his solo project, “Go,” Jonsi abandons the textures of cracking ice and replaces them with a thaw: In this record, sunshine pops out of the speakers.
Unlike previous Sigur Ros efforts — with the possible exception of 2008’s “Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust” — “Go” has lost the elements that might alienate a casual pop listener. Gone are Sigur Ros’ occasional bursts of noise or dark ambient drones. Furthermore, the songs are in English rather than the band’s home-brewed “Hopelandic” language found in previous efforts.
But this pop influence is infiltrated by dazzlingly complex arrangements. Jonsi claims he set out to make an acoustic record, but the production “sort of exploded.” His voice is manipulated into rhythmic warbling for the title track. Wind chimes and a string section meet crashing pots-and-pans percussion in the riveting stomper “Animal Arithmetic.” And the frenetic IDM drumming found on a Bjork or Aphex Twin record may propel a song such as “Boy Lilikoi,” but the flutes, vocal harmonies and twinkling piano-guitar interplay are what propel the track into its pristine territory.
— Eryk Salvaggio