Miracle Fortress – Five Roses

A splendid debut album from Graham Van Pelt (of Canadian pop act Think about Life). In this album, Van Pelt continues to showcase his talent creating colorful keyboard textures. The album has an upbeat and lively feeling to it, with shiny atmospheric pleasantries that grant your brain a sensual massage. After repeated listens has begun to sound slightly overproduced (and the vocal harmonies get out of hand at times)– but still is a stellar solo debut that predicts bright future for Van Pelt. BEST TRACKS = 2,4,7,12


1. All instrumental intro track. Fun bass. Fuzzy electric guitar. Subtle harmonizing voices
2. Fuzzy guitar intro. Soft group sing along. Beautiful Keys brings the song alive! Clapping is good!
3. Sounds like a walk in the park at first. Slow acoustic guitar intro. Group harmonizing. Snapping fingers are borderline corny. Instrumental crescendo for last minute of the song.
4. Here we go! Strong drums. Sugary atmospheric textures galore! Playful Bass. Great lyrical delivery by Van Pelt.
5. Appropriately titled “Beach Baby.” Soft Keys and synth. Picks up halfway through with lyrics and shimmery guitar.
6. Cool Intro. Dueling electric guitars. More dreamy keys and soft lyrical harmonies.
7. Droning keys. Soft acoustic picking/strumming. Good lyrical delivery. Gets more powerful with drums and electric guitar as song progresses.
8. Drums and acoustic strumming. Pretty song once again, but Miracle Fortress is beginning to sound like a (dare I say) one-trick pony.
9. Slow all-instrumental starter. Soft keys and the soft putter of the Jetson’s space car. Electric guitars slowly build.
10. Wistful traveling song. Electric/acoustic combo to start. Soft lyrics. Fun instrumental from middle to end.
11. Darkest song on the menu. Haunting guitar to begin. Female harmonies over Van Pelts soft tone. Cool futuristic keys.
12. YES! A great end to a nice album. Strong drums and fuzzy guitar. Fun Bass. Cool textured synth bursts onto the scene with Van Pelts BEST singing on the album!