SACRAMENT

At times very cold and wintery in emotion, other times like a warm hug. Dark and light. Soft and heavy. And so on. From the very first track "anamnesis" the soft sunny opening turns to a violent thunderstorm in short order. Sylvia's vocal starts out very woodland pixie and ends up sounding like a Siouxsie sneer later in the song. Interesting melodies abound and there are lots of great keyboards, flutes, recorders, and percussions. Everything on paper should just make this an unforgettable experience and yet it still fails to firmly grab me, and this is one of those times where I'm at a near total loss to explain why, which always bothers me. One thing I will say is that compositionally it seems overwhelmingly atmospheric with little of the direct emotional appeal I generally crave. I do like some atmospherics but I also need something that will look me square in the eye-if that makes any sense! (The same reason I would prefer Animals or The Wall over Meddle.) The do finally get there by the last track "The Reach" which opens things up and really roars with a dynamic rocking sound that I appreciated after so much moonlight folk feel. That one grabbed me. I should like this more than I do-yet I have to really force myself to play it and then I'm always looking at my watch. Sad really, because I acknowledge that it's pretty tasty stuff musically. So I'm afraid I can be of very little help on this title. Gorgeous instrumental work over lovely female vocals with a very north woods vibe and yet I can only mildly recommend it. While most reviews are praising I did find one gent on another site who had a line I couldn't resist sharing. "This is one of those records that sounds pretty good when you listen to them but afterwards you totally forget them for two years into your record collection." I think it might be three years for me. 5/10

Share this WHITE WILLOW review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Finnforest
• Report this review (#172542)
• Buy WHITE WILLOW music online with PA partners
• Show all WHITE WILLOW MP3/Stream
• Go to WHITE WILLOW page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Sacrament page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for WHITE WILLOW related discussions