Winter Reviews 2010
Alberta Cross: Broken Side of Time
Alberta Cross's atmospheric album is perfect for projecting
From the start of “Song Three Blues” you can tell singer and main songwriter Petter Ericson Stakee has something important to convey, but the lyrics
fall like light rain on a cloudy, grim day. Instantly, the urgency of the message strikes as high-pitched cries call out an almost unintelligible
statement, “Well I pushed you more than I should...” and call to mind a cross between Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Nivana's Kurt Cobain. What I make out
of the chorus, “well I just wanna leave, is that a crime?” creates an image of a college party where gloomy outside weather mixes with sweaty, drunken
people inside. They desperately try to grab for some state of mental sobriety through physical inebriation as Alberta Cross plays The Broken Side
of Time.
The album insert offers scenic landscapes and abstract black and white art which goes along with the initial mental picture created by plodding rock and
whining lyrics. All in all, Broken Side of Time allows for perfect projection; put yourself directly into the angsty guitars and sing along your
own tortured lyrics.
The title track repeats the phrase, “we grew up in a broken side of time” which sounds, at first, like “a broken side of town” and, perhaps, that is the
link taken through metaphor by the songwriter. The crashing drums build under layers of keyboards and guitars which add to the climax of the song at its end. It leaves the listener with an eagerness for more as the album continues.
The closing song, “Ghost of City Life” grabs hold and jerks you out of the fog which floats around all the songs with its introduction, “How about
believing? How about some faith?”. The vocals still feel like a supplication cried across some vastness or a mental void, but clearly and concisely you
hear “How about some truth now...”. The sliding guitar lulls the listener into a state of longing for the fuzziness again as the repetition of “how
about some drinks now...I'm tired enough to faint”. Then again, this is an atmospheric album perfect for projection.
The collection of songs on Broken Side of Time resound with an airy, atmospheric intensity which allows the listener to drift off in the layers
of sound and project or imagine the meanings behind the intricacies of song. Take a walk through the Broken Side of Time and let epiphanies come
or melt into a soothing sleep.
Review by Ellen Eldridge
The Very Foundation: This Restless Enterprise
“Only teeth break. Only earth shakes.”
Michael Lewis and Bevan put out a great release with The Very Foundation's This Restless Enterprise featuring Kristie Rethlefsen,
members of The Decemberists, Blind Pilot, Oh Darling, and all
the members of Blue Skies For Black Hearts.
Dynamically, this is such a great album; driving and percussive. The opening track, “My Sweetest Defeat” feels like driving through the streets
listening to My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult circa “Hit and Run Holiday”. The horns and general atmosphere of good feeling comes across darker lyrics
sarcastically. The Very Foundation uses true trumpets instead of synthesizers which always sounds better live.
“Better Get Off”, a bass-heavy hit, combines stoic, deep vocals and gothic lyrics reminiscent of what Nick Cave might have done had he teamed up with
Leonard Cohen, took some anti-depressants and listened to big band music.
One of the first songs to hone in on the dynamics of This Restless Enterprise, “Feel Anything”, sounds off with an acoustic strum joined by a hi-hat.
Vocals followed by full band burst in for a climactic chorus to the words, “fuck yourself to get through, just to feel anything”.
The music cuts in and out perfectly. The pre-chorus is quietly sung over a simple bass line and hi-hat, but by the time, “alone with your attic view”,
is heard the rim shot on the snare clicks like a metronome and releases into “just to feel anything”.
Harmonies like those found between Lewis' lows and Rethlefsen's highs soothe over swelling strings which lifting their mixed melodies in the track,
“This Is What We're Asking For”. Again, simple samples of storms and percussion create an atmosphere to pay close attention to the dynamics of song.
Many of the tracks start quietly like “My Angel, One Last Time” and build into moving pieces with targeted chorus filled with lines like, “spread your
legs my angel, one last time” and “I won't tell your boyfriend, oh yeah right”. Most of the songs have a recurring theme of sexuality; unashamed and
brutally honest. The ideas streaming through songs titled, “Better Get Off”, “Pornography” and “Silk and Stilettos” take the listener by the imagination
and ride him into submission with a healthy groove.
The Very Foundation put a great feeling into dark and sexual themes. Check it out at: http://www.myspace.com/theveryfoundation
Review by Ellen Eldridge
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