- -- Release information ----------------------------------------------- -- -
Artist : Kari Rueslσtten
Album : Silence is the Only Sound
Genre : Indie
Year : 2017
Label : ╪ra Fonogram
Cat# : OF119CD
Source : CDDA
Bitrate : avg. 223kbps
Size : 69,01 MB
Runtime : 43:00
URL : http://www.karirueslatten.com/
- -- Tracklist -------------------------------------------------------- -- -
01. Believer 04:24
02. Chasing Rivers 03:21
03. Spellbound 03:33
04. Gone 04:00
05. The Harbour 04:06
06. As Evening Falls 05:13
07. Saviour 03:56
08. Music You Should Hear 04:08
09. The Parting (Shine A Light) 04:06
10. Silence is the Only Sound 06:13
- -- Release notes ---------------------------------------------------- -- -
Since leaving the ground breaking doom metal band The 3rd and
the Mortal after their debut album Tears Laid in Earth, Kari
Rueslσtten has exchanged the sound of three distorted guitars
for more of a pop-rock sound in a successful solo career,
with a collection of demo tracks with touches of Nordic folk,
followed by six varied solo albums all driven by her gorgeous
voice. Silence is the Only Sound is the third album since her
return from hiatus in 2014 after 2005's Other People's Stories
and the seventh solo album of her career overall. As always
there's a magic to her soft, cooing vocal style with the
instantly recognizable Nordic trill, and with the ethereal
instrumentation provided from guitarist Jostein Ansnes
providing a lovely background, always giving the platform for
her voice to shine, in another album that show's Kari can do
no wrong.
In style it's very much in the vein of the previous album To
the North, but with the folk elements removed, and the
rock/pop style left. The music is soft and calming for the
opener Believer, with gentle washes of clean electric guitar
and understated percussion, a perfect backdrop for her
gorgeous soft cooing vocals, the Nordic trill to it coming
across beautifully when she holds the notes in the chorus.
Kari isn't one to belt out her lyrics, nor hit high notes,
despite her time in a metal band, just singing soft and
slightly ethereally her introspective lyrics, and the power
comes from the assuredness in her voice and timbre. A slight
guitar flourish in the bridge is the only time where Ansnes'
guitar takes centre stage in a relaxed vocal centric piece. If
Kari's voice didn't sound soft enough in the opener, on the
single Chasing Rivers, her dreamy high pitched vocals in the
introduction are as soft as you can get without being fragile.
More power into the voice hitting some higher notes in the
chorus, and some more upbeat instrumentation with the
distorted washes of guitar and lovely melodic motif make it
more of a rock number than the poppy opener in one of the
catchiest pieces on the album. As a whole on Silence is the
Only Sound the lyrics are rather introspective, the meaning
rather ambiguous while being clearly personal, especially on
the darker pieces to be mentioned later in the review, as was
the case to an extent on To the North,
On her 2014 comeback album Kari re-recorded the The third and
the Mortal classic Why So Lonely, trading the three guitars
for the piano of Nightwish keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. Here
she does another re-recording, the title track of her debut
solo album Spindelsinn translated into and sung in English and
renamed Spellbound, with the instrumentation reimagined by
Ansnes, with more of the ethereal guitar, removing all the
folk elements of the original. With the crystalline production
of Silence is the Only Sound being much clearer than the debut
album, it sounds gorgeous, the main melody recreated with
swathes of guitar, soft percussion injecting a bit more drive
and energy. Her voice in Norwegian had even more of the trill
to her voice, and her English singing voice is much calmer
than that more folky style, and it sounds so gorgeously soft,
perfect against the lovely wash of guitars. The original is a
classic, but this re-recording couldn't have been done any
better.
Saviour with its twinkly and slightly glitchy electronics and
soft brass, amps up to a rockier piece with some fantastic
percussion, and a great lead guitar presence, with Kari
singing softly her introspective lyrics, before hitting some
really high notes in the chorus with a powerful yet still
lovely energy. As Evening Falls begins with a mysterious and
ethereal sounding guitar riff and great haunting synths, and a
sad mournful voice against the melancholy lyrics. It builds up
to a dramatic climax to match this haunting sound, a bluesy
guitar solo in the middle of the track creating a wistful
atmosphere.
There are some darker moments on the album among these calmer
pieces, with the dramatic synth strings and relatively
aggressive percussion of Gone, the darker sultry tone to
Kari's voice, bringing to mind the darker trip-hop sound of
her Pilot album. Music You Should Hear isn't as dramatic, but
with the sparse acoustic guitar and mournful synths a dark
atmosphere is created for Kari's weary, melancholic vocal
style.
The longest track is the closing title track, beginning with
twinkling piano playing the same note softly, with Kari
singing tunefully, carrying the main melody with more of the
soft trill to her voice. Other than a few understated synths
and these notes of piano the whole is driven by her voice for
most of the track, a soft fragility creeps into her voice as
it comes close to cracking with the weight of emotion, just
before a percussive beat comes in, and washes of guitar take
over from the vocals, akin to the most beautiful of shoegaze,
with a gorgeous soft repetition of the word "silence" in the
background accentuating this beautiful web of sound.
Twenty five years into her career, Kari's song writing and
vocals have lost nothing over time, since her return in 2014
she's released some of her best albums since The Third and the
Mortal, and this is more of the same. Her gorgeous, ethereal
Nordic vocals combined with Jostein Ansnes' brilliant sense of
tone and melody in the instrumentation make Silence is the
Only Sound nothing short of magical, and one of the most
beautiful albums of the year.
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