Weekly Album Review: Choir Of Young Believers- This Is For The White In Your Eyes
Written by willshoob on Tuesday, 18 of August , 2009 at 8:18 am
I can easily and confidently say that most music isn’t nearly as beautiful or dramatic as that of Jannis Noya Makrigiannis’ new project. Choir Of Young Believers make the orchestral pop music most bands can only dream up. This band reminds me a bit of Sigur Ros, but with more accessible songs; they should have an easy time making it big in the states. Granted, I am a sucker for choirs and epic choruses, but only when they’re done right. Back in March I saw M83 play with the LA Philharmonic. This album is really similar to that experience, in the sense that the music is written for and should be played by an orchestra. The M83 sound was enhanced by the orchestra, which is something I think he should access in the future. Every track on This Is For The White In Your Eyes has this majestic, (and most of the time) orchestral vibe to it, which M83 only achieved when backed by one of the world’s best orchestras. M83 and Choir Of Young Believers don’t make similar music, but the epic builds and choir parts are very similar to each other, especially when M83 is accompanied by a full orchestra.
The album starts with “Hollow Talk”, which is a perfect introduction to the album. It starts off with just the piano and his voice, slowly building. The best part about the track is that you know it’s going to get huge, you just don’t know when. When the build finally reaches its peak, it’s bigger than you could have ever imagined. Slowly strings come in, accompanying Makrigiannis’ vocals wonderfully. They drop out, and eventually come back in with an acoustic guitar, slowly introducing more and more instruments to accompany his beautiful voice. The guitar and his voice drop out, and these whiny strings introduce us to a choir and a perfectly loud drum kit. I highly recommend listening to this song loudly. The next track, “Next Summer” would perfectly accompany a dramatic love scene in an action/thriller movie. The two men in love with the women are chasing one another, and when the chase finally ends the woman is waiting for one man and the fireworks are launching in the background (that’s the chorus). It’s not one of my favorites, but it’s still a nice track. It will be released as the second single*.
Skip a track and we arrive at the first single, “Action/Reaction.” “Action/Reaction” is one of the happier sounding tracks on the album. The extra percussion is a really nice touch, as are the harmonies and “ow wow wow wow’s.” Listen to the track and you’ll know what I mean. This track has a really upbeat feel to it, with the hand drums really adding a nice flavor to an already nice chorus. Skip one more and we arrive at “Wintertime Love”, the slow moving acoustic epic. The song takes a little too long to build, a track that never reaches its full potential. It’s the only track on the album I don’t “like.” It’s not a terrible song, it’s just not a song I’d listen to often. However, the next track, “She Walks” is one of my favorite. It’s a really peaceful, calming track; taking a break from the epic orchestra, this song has more of a “sit back and relax while I serenade you in song” vibe. Of course the song toys with the epic orchestra, with a heavy guitar part lurking in the background, but it never goes there… Which on this track is for the better. After a couple of nice tracks, we arrive at the album ender, “Yamagata.” The song is characterized by haunting vocals looming in the distance, with ominous piano chords leading the charge. Like the lyrics say, “just sit back and hold on, just sit back and have some fun.” This song toys with the idea of an epic build for nearly the entire track, before ending in a whisper. It never really gets loud, but I don’t mind it on this track. It’s a really nice way to end a beautiful album.
This Is For The White In Your Eyes comes out today on Ghostly International. It’s a beautiful album, I highly recommend you pick it up. I haven’t listened to the album too many times, but it has the potential to be a favorite of 2009. It really is a hauntingly beautiful album. As of now, I can’t really say anything bad about it. Let the music speak for itself.
*
Choir Of Young Believers- Action/Reaction
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