Alpha / Come From Heaven
Album: | Come From Heaven | Collection: | General | |
Artist: | Alpha | Added: | Oct 1997 | |
Label: | Virgin Records (Modern) |
Recent Airplay
1. | Oct 19, 2005: | Anywhere Out of the World
Slim |
2. | Oct 05, 2005: | Eels in the Loo
Apple Orange |
Album Review
David McWade
Reviewed 2007-02-17
Reviewed 2007-02-17
A mixture of trip-hop tracks and 'white' (to my knowledge) soul tracks (that make me think of some late '80s new wave band that I can't put my finger on), mostly downtempo and often orchestrated 'Bristol Sound', layered, electronica, vocal and lyrical delivery tend to be akin to 'telling a story', songs usually take a while to develop. Male (Andy Jenks) and female (Corey Dillon) who both worked on Statik Sound System previously Both soul and trip-hop work well, even to the extent that while I might prefer trip-hop to soul I can see myself playing the soul tracks. As a result, this works better next to Massive Attack than with Portishead, although both will do. 'Sometime Later' apparently was a song at the end credits of the movie 'My Life Without Me'. This is one of the more unrecognized bands
Try 2, 6, 9, 10
1 downtempo somewhere between trip-hop and soul, instrumental, changes with about 1:30 left, long tape-noise ambienct, continues downtempo with about 1:00 left. goes right into next track
2 uptempo, lovely, Corey (she) sings, breathily, faux-piano, perfect uses of repetition in the music and development in the voice/lyrics as/with sound. 3/4 or 9/16 beat, or whatever. best track.
3 soul music, tasteful but if it's not your favorite genre, you have to be in the mood, especially considering how long it is, Andy sings.
4 samples of some old film actor, fits in with older Massive Attack, innocent qualities, male and female vocals, urban
5 ambient long 1 min intro, nice diggerido (sp?), downtempo, beats, instrumental, layered
6 classic song, like #2 perfect interplay between repetition and Corey (female) lyrics/voice (slightly treated), long verse to the 1st climactic chorus, shorter wait to the 2nd (even more) climactic chorus.
7 short track, begins with cacophony of tv samples, coda to #2
8 begins with samples 'god knows what is there', metaphors, soul/trip-hop, Andy's tenor vocals, intense
9 ambient downtempo, samples, Corey (she) vocals come in with about 5:13 left, sultry, C#, variations in energy and tone, imaginative and subtle developments
10 strange drum machine beat, increases/changes energy, viola (possibly a real one), other strings, samples, 'beyond' Eb major, climax starts with about 1:30 left
11 I almost gave up on this one until she started singing
12 soulful Andy sings
13 uses the exact same music as #3 but Corey sings instead, nice coda, reprise
Try 2, 6, 9, 10
1 downtempo somewhere between trip-hop and soul, instrumental, changes with about 1:30 left, long tape-noise ambienct, continues downtempo with about 1:00 left. goes right into next track
2 uptempo, lovely, Corey (she) sings, breathily, faux-piano, perfect uses of repetition in the music and development in the voice/lyrics as/with sound. 3/4 or 9/16 beat, or whatever. best track.
3 soul music, tasteful but if it's not your favorite genre, you have to be in the mood, especially considering how long it is, Andy sings.
4 samples of some old film actor, fits in with older Massive Attack, innocent qualities, male and female vocals, urban
5 ambient long 1 min intro, nice diggerido (sp?), downtempo, beats, instrumental, layered
6 classic song, like #2 perfect interplay between repetition and Corey (female) lyrics/voice (slightly treated), long verse to the 1st climactic chorus, shorter wait to the 2nd (even more) climactic chorus.
7 short track, begins with cacophony of tv samples, coda to #2
8 begins with samples 'god knows what is there', metaphors, soul/trip-hop, Andy's tenor vocals, intense
9 ambient downtempo, samples, Corey (she) vocals come in with about 5:13 left, sultry, C#, variations in energy and tone, imaginative and subtle developments
10 strange drum machine beat, increases/changes energy, viola (possibly a real one), other strings, samples, 'beyond' Eb major, climax starts with about 1:30 left
11 I almost gave up on this one until she started singing
12 soulful Andy sings
13 uses the exact same music as #3 but Corey sings instead, nice coda, reprise
Track Listing
1. | My Things | 7. | Come From Heaven | |||
2. | Rain | 8. | Back | |||
3. | Sometime Later | 9. | Nyquil | |||
4. | Delaney | 10. | Apple Orange | |||
5. | Hazeldub | 11. | With | |||
6. | Slim | 12. | Firefly | |||
13. | Somewhere not Here |