Cehmical Friends

Chemical Friends is an excellent folk/acoustic rock album with a couple of synth tracks thrown in to keep things interesting. The synth tracks give a feeling of pseudo-trance at an extremely slow pace, while the acoustic tracks definitely seem to take their inspiration from the acoustic rhythm in Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here.' A good album for those looking for some mellow, distant tracks. Check out 2, 4, and 11, but all are pretty decent.

1. Immediate vocal and guitar opening. Very mellow with slow rhythm. Synth joins in at :58. Heavy use of electric guitar and deep synth. Synth ending at 4:00

*2. Acoustic guitar opening, echo vocals joining in at :17. Nice chorale of voices at 1:16 and a few times afterwards. Very meditative feeling.

3. Fast, up-beat acoustic rhythm opening. Deeper vocals at :21. Far-off distant feel to the song. Almost like a theme song for taking a journey somewhere.

*4. Synth opening with vocals. Definitely has hybrid trance feel with the synth beat and background bleeps. Gives off a mystery vibe. Acoustic guitar comes in at 1:56 followed by a barrage of synth beats and sounds.

5. Acoustic guitar opening, up-beat, almost country guitar rhythm with echo vocals at :22. No significant changes/removals for the rest of the song.

6. Slow Acoustic opening with vocals. Faint synth in the background at :43 as electric guitar joins in. Track is pretty mellow, almost hypnotic. Song fades at 2:05 with waves, and synth provided most of the sound. Synth continues for rest of song.

7. Synth opening with dark vocals. Simulated beat adds to a mellow beginning, but with dark undertones. Develops and loses the dark tone for a more hopeful one with lighter vocals and synth. Synth explodes at 2:36 with crazy beat.

8. Acoustic opening vocals at :10. Another 'distant' track. The light synth and acoustic guitar sound very removed, giving a feeling of constantly moving.

9. Light synth opening of ringing. Percussion and vocal at :25. The same faint synth background and hollow, removed sound.

10. Traditional acoustic guitar opening. Vocals at :18. Track has a desperate hopeless feel about it. Very slow track.

*11. Echo acoustic opening into clear sound. Echo vocals at :19. Faint synth background.

Reviewed by Eric Ford