STORMS OVER STILL WATER

I had been looking forward to this album because I was very anxious to learn what direction the band would head for after the disappointing, yet highly succesful Passengers album. And unfortunately SOSW is not at all satisfactory. The first part of the album could have been recorded by any band featuring a female vocalist. There are no flutes, no violins, no distinctive guitar work, no folk elements. The first 7 songs are actually quite mediocre, with Out of the green sky maybe as a exception because the vocals are quite good albeit quite yelling. The drumming is indeed disastrouw, no original break, no nice fill, simply beating the drum and hi/hat. From track 8 on it starts to become MA again and that is far too late. For MA is a great band with excellent musicians being able to play a very varied array of instruments. But why not use it then....

I saw them on a gig in The Netherlands last september and they were absolutely great. Almost three hours at a row and all the energy was there. The real spirit of this band lies in the interplay between Heather Findlay, Brian Josh and Angela Goldthorpe. But, the other members of the band are so important. They may no be very charismatic on stage, but they keep on playing and do it so well. Even the new drummer, who is doing a very, very bad job on the album, played excellent. So there is hope for those who are awaiting a new TLBL of FAWS+ lets hope that the band hears the calls too and turns back to the road they fgollowed with their unique combination of Floydish guitars and folkish flutes and keyboards.