2 Star Shoes 2:50
3 Sylvia 2:54
4 Rings and Things 2:53
5 The New 4:30
6 Distracted Eyes 2:33
7 Like A Lion 3:10
8 The Hollow Choir 3:39
Release date is October 23rd on Motor Oat Records
"Using a clever story Waltz/Prog band Vuvuzela announce the date for their upcoming release."
1 Our Ghosts 4:31. There's a Gradual building Harp and piano interplay that sets the tone for the album."This House Holds Our Ghosts" "Memories from out (past?).."
One thing that sticks out is there are a lot of very Clean Cymbals in this song, that are High in the Mix.
2 Star Shoes 2:50. The Opening piano sounds like The Dear Hunter track "Lillian" from the Violet EP off The Color Spectrum..Tempo/Time Change "The Stars in My Eyes..They know nothing"..Quiet then Heavy/Slammed Piano.
3 Sylvia 2:54..This one starts off dreamy, almost like Mew, with a sad, dark, beautiful, romantic theme in the melody. Which may be about a relationship that went bad. This piece crescendos to an odd rhythm where the piano gets slammed.
4 Rings and Things 2:53.."Repetition is Blameless". Waltzy/Cicusy Piano and Bass leads to a Wall of vocal layers and a bombastic interplay Between the drums, piano and harp.
5 The New 4:30. The Intro is rather dreamy, with some subtle piano. There are tempo changes back and forth between slow and fast.."turns dirt to sand" the outro is gorgeous with the piano and synths layers and vocals. This is one of Josh Benash's best vocal lines ever. One line sounds like: "I don't care about the [ones?]..all I wanted. my one ..?"
6 Distracted Eyes 2:33..This piece feels almost like a segue song, but it is big and dreamy.
7 Like A Lion 3:10 This starts out dark with Screamy Vocals, then there's a Tempo change, the vocals are clean. Which is kind of Jekyl-and-Hyde thing in that sense. I love the way the bridge has a Circus-y/bombastic/dramatic twist to it.
8 The Hollow Choir 3:39 There's a lovely slow Intro with Harp and Piano.
"We are born beneath the waves"
"We Don't need Anyone or Anything"
(female harmony vocals)
"Don't Speak of that please. Don't Speak""Son of man says he's gone. Says he's saved"
The gradual crescendo on this song is tremendous, which then leads to a quiet Harp Outro.
This record has highly impressed me. It has a lot of what I love about Kiss Kiss, while still being different. The dynamics and less-is-more approach to songwriting. Kiss Kiss made a debut record that was 32 minutes long, this album is pretty close in length to that. It also *feels* longer than what it clocks in at.
Every track works in different ways, from gorgeous Harp layers, to infectious piano melodies, I really am getting a similar feeling when I first discovered my love for Kiss Kiss 6 years ago.
Many of the songs have those sad parts that strike a strong amount of emotion. While Vuvuzela's sound is for the most part acoustic, it has enough textures and instrumentation going on, it doesn't sound so stripped down.
I guess specifics after playing it only a couple of times, "Sylvia," "Rings and Things," "The New," "Star Shoes," and "The Hollow Choir" have my attention the most. But I'd say other than the screaming in "Like a Lion" every part of this record seems to fit.
4.5 stars and on par with both of the Kiss Kiss records.
http://www.wearevuvuzela.com