Avial by Avial (Phat Phish Records)
Transcending the barriers of language and yet oozing tons of international appeal, Avial’s self titled album has all it takes to make a legend. Each of the 8 songs is either beautifully...
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Bomb in a Birdcage - A Fine Frenzy
Frenzied like a explosive firecracker crackling inside a small birdcage, yearning to break free - A Fine Frenzy's sophomore album, Bomb in a Birdcage is a delight. Spending two years on the road, Alison Sudol's voice is now controlled and honed, and the music and instrumentation is more expansive yet tight. One of the best songs on the album is Elements, a passionate rain-swept ballad about a woman's breakdown in the face of an old lost love, returned. The song starts in symphonies booming seemingly across a wind-swept moor, tracing parallels to the tired, torrid love affair the singer recounts. "You show up like a hurricane, all hungry-eyed and weather-stained/ The clock forgets to tick and I the same" Sensitive lyrics, passionate singing that skips between aggressive intent and fall-into-your-arms helplessness, A Fine Frenzy offers a virtuoso performance.
The World Without is another classic - lyrics full of imagery and singing that speaks to the heart. "The circles darken round our eyes/ And yet our bodies, when combined/ They gleam like diamonds in cave". One of the most stunning musical moments in the song is when Alison recounts the love of Heloise for Peter Abelard amidst a soft crescendo of music that gently sways down into gentle tunes. In interview, Alison Sudol reveals an artistic persona that flirts and falls in love with musical influences as varied as Aretha Franklin or Fiona Apple or Sigur Ros. This reflects in her singing as well - being at times soft, murmuring over gentle music, and at times passionate, and at other times joyful and sprightly. It also becomes obvious listening to Alison's music that literary influences and the magical and imaginative have shaped her growth as an artist - with lyrics that are lovingly imaginative, giving voice and beauty to the most ordinary of objects; in The Beacon she weaves a touching song about loneliness and fulfillment, a song strongly reminiscent of Cat Power's The Greatest. Bird of the Summer is a small delightful love song that mixes young sentimentality with old understanding, a pleasure to witness in a young artist.
Stood Up opens with some really nice synthesizers, while Sudol's voice echoes, commanding over the music. An inspirational anthem, Sudol's lyrics regress to standard cliches sometimes, however the artist's voice and the control she exhibits over the blaring music makes up for it.
Most of Alison's songs are about love - and the careless abandon that comes with it; and that reflects in her music. Clapping, childhood swings, kisses on the forehead - all is done without descending to the churlish. The innocence is refreshing and charming. Yet she manages to raise her voice and command the music in songs that betray the tough persona beneath the seemingly fragile person. She's an artist who is difficult to be typecast in any genre, and whose imaginative songwriting and variety singing keeps the album refreshing, listen after listen.
Listen to a track from the album here:
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