REVIEW BY
MICK MERCER:
Some bands within Goth always manage to create a stately
atmosphere, despite the variety of sounds, and there
is something inherently dignified about the way Scarlet
Leaves work, and impressive about the way they undersell
their attractive points, leaving you to appreciate
the scope without needing to ram it into our faces.
‘Cold Painted Landscapes’ has a confidently
walking bass travelling throughout the song, adding
life over the purposeful electronic rhythm, with
leisurely, light vocals clearly delineated and grey
trails of guitar working at the edges, offset by
little piano flourishes, possessing a softly commercial
allure. ‘Absinthe Tears’ is misty-minded
and elegant as though a hybrid of a sane Cocteaus
mixed with ethereal sounds from Projekt artists,
a solemn sound mixed with enchanting holistic vocals,
the synth circling in its holding pattern, the bass
pushing for attention, and not unlike a dreamy Badalamenti
feel overall. This really takes hold during ‘The
Last Romance’ as the drowsy synth seeps at
the base of the exquisitely demure song, with ‘Fate’
more upright like some sedentary electro. ‘Instrumental
Estado de Espirito’ is a neat, short instrumental,
as you may have gathered.
‘Annwyn’ is sweetly flowing, close
to ethereal, ‘Faces’ is similar in general
repose but with a wonderful gap left for the bass
to purr prominently, and it gently rises to a cool
end, close in spirit to the opening track. ‘Desilusion
– In 3 Acts’ is a mischievous little
blighter (a word so rarely heard) as I settled back
for a balmy ambient bathing session, only for it
to be over all too song, as one simple song on the
jaunty side of neo-classical by the close, which
just leaves ‘Images Of Memories’, a
gauzy gliding treat, with some high vocals and low
guitar, united in a gorgeously still, rarefied display,
although there is a cute remix of ‘Cold Painted
Landscapes’ tacked on.
An interesting album this, with its own confidence
to keep things at a certain level, and although
short so full of rich tones and subtle intelligence.
Really lovely, in the truest sense.
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