Alice Despard Group, Thinning of the Veil
Sort of folky rocky alternativeness. Alice has a nice, low voice. Acoustic guitars, electrics, synth, and other.The promotional material describes their sound as “a blend of psychedelia, punk, and alt-country.” Punk? Wha? Maybe alt-country. A reviewer adds, “rock songs filled with nearly hymn-like melodies.” I think it’s more the second than the first, at least on this album. The tracks on the back don’t sync up with the actual track numbers and names, by the way. The unstarred tracks here are perfectly fine and nice-sounding; the starred ones are the tracks that step out of the default sound into more interesting places.

* 1. (1:08) nice raw acoustic guitar, plus buzzy electric guitar. Dark, busy little instrumental intro that fades out.
2. (4:35) more conventional alternative/folkie sound, w/ eighth-note strums and vocal harmonies. The title track (listed as track 1 on the album and in the database).
* 3. (3:58) constistent strumming, but sounds more raw—vocals are more audible, it’s slightly quieter, and has strings—cello solo.
4. (4:09) slightly faster, more driving tempo with percussion, more buzzy guitar cacophony. Some unexpected chord changes. Makes me think of REM.
* 5. (4:11) slightly slower but still a steady driving beat. amblingly tender. little buzzy solos. Sounds like the last longing drunken song at the prom.
6. (3:31) determined. acoustic guitar and desperate vocals
** 7. (4:53) dark; a bit of spanishy acoustic guitar flair and syncopated rhythm. Vocal “ooooooohs” in background. A little bit bossa nova, too. The best track so far.
** 8. (2:53) preeetty . . . very melodic 12/8, acoustic guitar arpeggios with super buzzy electric guitar and glockenspiel. Instrumental.
9. (7:37) midtempo happy guitar chording, spacy synth soars, synth organ, buzzy guitars. They’re going for a song about Zen. A nice song; they’re focusing on the lyrics for this one, so the music’s nothing amazingly original.
10. (3:18) mid/uptempo, lots of strumming and drumming
11. (3:50) buzzy, waltz tempo, drifts between major and minor. Pretty
* 12. (6:39) hidden track! Crazy stereo effects in beginning. Muted, dark instrumental with acoustic guitar, synth,. Turns into a different song altogether, a lonely mid/uptempo strummy electric guitar number, with vocals, and accordion backup, and buzzy things, and vocal harmonies.