#nothing has brought me more joy and intrigue these past few days than this album

[boi-zizzoi]

Can we talk about the Ever After album by Marianas Trench? I just-- it's beautiful. I used to listen to "Ever After" (the song) on repeat for hours when I was in high school, and while I liked a lot of their other songs, I never realized the absolute EXPERIENCE listening to the entire album in order would be. The song I've memorized all these years essentially continues for about an hour. I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS

[findmyhouse]

DANI LEE PEARCE - PETRICHOR (2016): 9/10

Who's ready for a blast from the past? The first article I ever wrote for this cute little album review series was one about the self-titled debut album by Dani Lee Pearce, which I published exactly one year after the album's release. At the time I felt compelled to write a review out of disappointment with the lack of attention for an album whose intelligently written and produced music intrigued and inspired me. Therefore, I believe it's appropriate to repeat this principle now, a year and a half later, writing a review for Ms. Pearce's fifth album, which was released on the 8th of November 2016 and which has brought me even more joy, inspiration and endearment. 

The last time we saw Dani Lee Pearce on this blog was in 2016, when only three albums credited to her name had been released. Her debut album, which I covered at the time, was a collection of proggy instrumentals in a chiptune-ish environment. Petrichor, released a year and a half after her debut, was still produced entirely by digital means (except for the vocals) but certainly cannot be called electronica by its normal definition. The chiptune and synthpop elements are now mostly gone, and although synth- and other keyboard-like instruments still dominate the sound, the instrumentation on this album notably adheres more to rock conventions, with sampled guitars, percussion, strings and woodwinds, and of course Pearce's vocals, which have been featured prominently on all of her albums from 2016 onward. The music instead takes more influence from folk rock and dream pop and overall sets up a gentle, pastoral mood. The songs themselves are also more traditionally structured, with more recognizable verses and choruses, and aren't based on very fast or unusual rhythms.

On the other hand, the harmonies are still lovably eccentric and still reveal Dani Lee Pearce's idiosyncrasy, and most of the melodies are very catchy. And here's a fact that ought to please any fan of progressive rock (as well as discourage anyone who's thinking about accusing the artist of "selling out"): Petrichor is a 90-minute long concept album centred around an epic storyline with fantasy and science fiction themes. This story isn't too keen on revealing itself: the description on Bandcamp is quite convoluted and uses a lot of obscure jargon, while the lyrics are generally cryptic and leave a lot open to personal interpretation. To the best of my understanding, the story is a series of vignettes that together paint a picture of a mystical fantasy world, the people that inhabit it and the conflicts that take place in it. In any case, the lyrics themselves are well-written and don’t resort to clichés, and they’re sung in a dreamlike, almost whispering tone that fits both the music and the images being described. The only exception to this vocal style is “Masqueraders”, a hilarious tune which I can only assume to be dedicated to a group of space pirates and which is sung in a fittingly malicious manner (I especially like the first couple of verses, which reveal that the Masqueraders in question are pirates in more than one meaning of the word).

The other vocal tracks in the first half of the album range from passable to stunning. The album opens with "... And The Leaves That Fell That Day There", a folkish ballad that's dominated by samples of chimes and acoustic guitars and features a nice instrumental bridge featuring an electronic string orchestra. "I Am The Sand Girl" is a delightfully catchy pop song with a quiet, soothing coda ("This Tree"). "Over My Wall" is a really strange but also really cool little tune with an odd melody and a singing performance that slowly devolves into arrhythmic mumbling throughout the song's duration. That just leaves "From Young Unknowing Eyes", an organ- and glockenspiel-led ballad with a not too interesting chord progression, as the only track in this category that just sort of passes by unnoticed whenever I listen to the album.

However, the track that makes this first half shine most of all is an instrumental: “Purity And Disarray”. The melancholic chord progression, the distant-sounding Mellotron-like strings and the distorted, slightly detuned electric piano melody together create an impression of wandering alone lost in space, endlessly searching for something that can't be found. Two other instrumentals ("The Ember Leaf" and "The Lone Survivor") are more straight-forward and not as memorable but still good.

Now, while “Purity And Disarray” is probably my single favourite track on the album, I actually think the album’s second half is more consistent than the first overall. The only track on it that does nothing for me is “The Hill Of Mist”, which is little more than a lengthy ambient soundscape accompanied by electronically altered voices (although the lyrics, which seem to describe a euthanasia ritual, might be the most beautiful on the album). The tracks that surround it are excellent: "Down In Evergreene", the album's lead single, is another beautiful folk ballad and "Where The Ashes Go" is a wonderful ethereal instrumental with a koto sample as its lead instrument. The next track, "I Hope It Doesn't Rain When I See You Today" puzzles me to no end. It's a dreamy, lullaby-like tune that's really overly sweet and sentimental, yet it somehow works and is genuinely moving. For me, at least. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want.

From this point onward in the album, the story seems to focus around one specific character and set of occurrences, which makes all of the remaining tracks directly connected to each other thematically, and, appropriately, they all segue into each other as well. This suite (if you will) seems to be the album's pièce de résistance. We first get three more proggy instrumentals: the solemn, organ-led "Silver Tree's Mixtress", the playful "Candy Necklaces", and the cheery, optimistic "Twig Parade". This is followed by "Lute-Bird Calls", which is technically instrumental but features samples of people talking and reciting poetry excerpts, so I guess the proper term would be semi-instrumental? In any case, the song is little more than a melody being repeated over and over again, but the excellent production, the multiple melodic trinkets and background instruments and the dreamy, reverby vocals help bring the already great melody to life and create a truly beautiful atmosphere. Finally, the majestic, dream-poppy "Monsters And Rainclouds" serves as a climactic showstopper before the brief "Cast Your Sleep Spell" closes the album with the same chime noises that it started with.

The individual songs on Petrichor are strong enough, but listening to the album in its entirety has a strange effect on me that's hard to put into words. The progression of the story corresponds perfectly with the way in which the music has been ordered and paced, and together creates the feeling of a journey: After listening to the full album, thinking back to the first track feels similar to thinking about the moment you got up in the morning before you went on a long travel by plane or car. Off the top of my head, the only other albums I can think of that give me the same feeling are Genesis’s The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and National Health’s debut album. It's an album that makes you feel like something meaningful was accomplished by the end, and if you take it in as a whole you too can hopefully overlook the few weak spots that are bound to appear on an album of this length, and be enchanted by the magic of the music and the world it's created.

Best song: “PURITY” AND “DISARRAY”

Listen to the album here. Seriously.