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Originally Posted by Severian
Phenomenal album.
Just ... seriously one of the best releases of the year, I think.
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In a way I understand the sentiment. A lot of the harmonies on this album are stunningly beautiful, it always brings in something new and isn't very repetitive and of course, she's a very gifted vocalist. I'm not completely sold yet though. But I'm a bit biased there. I went in mostly knowing and appreciating her early stuff. So the transition from Folk singer with minimalistic arrangement and a focus on the extraordinary voice to full-on Operatic Pop with electronic touches was a bit jarring. As was the case with the new Weyes Blood Album, my major issues are with some of the choices on the production side. Angel has a really great voice and it really did shine in some of her more folky songs. This album utilizes a lot of reverb and her voice kind of gets buried below a lot of the layers of production. Also, since this seems to be a bit more pop-oriented, I found that there are a lot less sections where she uses her pipes as an instrument like she used to do. I thought that it was more singing along as opposed to really putting herself out there on quite a few of the tracks. Towards the end there are one or two tracks that buck that trend though, which made me happy. Anyway, I'll listen to it again. And I can see myself possibly loving it in the future, but right now it takes some getting used to. But maybe it's on me for missing the transition and having very specific and outdated expectations.
Edit: "Lark" however is amazing and stands toe to toe with Weyes Blood's "A Lot's Gonna Change" as my favorite album opener of the year.