Hello, Blue Roses – The Portrait is Finished and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty
Posted by Pablo in Reviews, The Yellow Stereo, Upcoming
With the hype surrounding anything newly pornographic destroyer Dan Bejar touches, one can eventually get a little skeptical. I mean, I love his stuff with the New Pornos, and I can respect his Destroyer work (although I must admit it’s never moved me). So, each time a new collaboration comes out with Dan Bejar, I’ve chosen to withhold judgment until I hear it, since it’s kind of hit or miss for me. A few months back, PJ introduced us to the first track leaked from Hello, Blue Roses’ upcoming The Portrait is Finished and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty…, “Shadow Falls.” It was a delightfully simple track that mixed the gentle vocals of Bejar’s significant other, Sydney Vermont with a folk-meets-the-80s feel. From then on I decided I should pay attention to this duo’s work and was delighted to find the disc in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago.
So, how does the rest of the album stack up? Sydney takes lead vocal duties, and Dan supports her, and it allows for a pleasant experience start to finish. Mostly acoustic, but with its touches of 80s-pop-inspired electric guitars and synths, this is a disc for a snowbound afternoon when you want something gentle yet warm to keep you company. I hear a touch of Spanish influence here as well in the way guitars are strummed and the familiar yet unconventional way the melodies interlock, especially on the track “Come Darkness.” I find a lot of this melodies to be slow growers, but the kind that reward your patience by slowly revealing the magic behind their simplicity. There aren’t too many big surprises, but plenty of great melodies that could fit in during any time of the last thirty years yet still feel fresh and original. This may not be the kind of album I’ll have at the top of my year-end lists (sorry, I haven’t left list-making mode yet), but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it makes the list come December.
Here’s a couple of samples that have been floating around the blogs and provide a good idea of what this album’s all about.
“Shadow Falls” – Hello, Blue Roses
“Sunny Skies” – Hello, Blue Roses
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