WHITE RAINBOW

I'm new to Mostly Autumn, so I can't put White Rainbow into the context of the rest of their work. I can only compare this album to the great works of prog folk and prog more generally. While White Rainbow is a step above modern popular music, it is certainly not great.

Regarding musical style, it's hard to see why this should qualify as prog folk. Yes, there is occasional use of bagpipes and flute, but mostly this consists of electric guitar, synth, and drums that would fit better in pop-rock or hard rock than folk music. Furthermore, the melodies do not generally evoke a folk sound. I can only assume the album is classified this way because of Mostly Autumn's earlier works, but this album would fit better in the heavy prog or symphonic prog genres.

The beautiful and emotional vocals of Olivia Sparnenn are easily the only aspect of this album that stands out in terms of musical quality. They are brought a notch down, however, by the fact that the music never requires her to sing anything intricate. Nothing in the instrumental music (guitars, bass, keyboards, winds) requires any more than mediocre proficiency in order to play. If you are looking for instrumental virtuosity, look far away from here. The chord progressions, rhythms, and melodies are generally trite and almost pop-sounding, and while there are some interesting arrangements and captivating moments, they are paced so slowly that I quickly lose interest.

That said, there is not much that is really bad here. The music is just far more boring than it is good. Feel free to listen, but it wouldn't be hard to find a better way to spend 78 minutes.