It was an early evening when I checked our mailbox. Tired from a long day in front of a computer, I really did not feel like anything but chilling for a while. To be honest, I was hoping for a home producer from an obscure country in the Baltic region – I needed to hear something different in order to freshen up my day. I went back to the car and opened the parcel. Another CD had arrived from New York, USA. Well packaged, produced, with a standard promo letter – everything about it screamed “commercial”, “stereotype” and “boring”. I put the CD on and headed towards the City. That’s when Lisa Shaw started…
”Lisa’s song” was a very good choice for an opening track. Colours, sounds and motion through my windscreen started blending and I knew it was all going to be good. Imagine a light acoustic breakbeat weaving through a slightly moody but hopeful and uplifting vocal. The voice of Julee Cruise (“Falling” – Twin Peaks) appears in “Fate or Faith” where she takes over and brings what I thought to be a slightly brighter note to the track.
As usual, I did not pay attention to the lyrics. One thing that bothers me as an electronic musician is that I treat vocal as another sound and do not attempt to listen. The track called “A Forest” took me by surprise for what I thought would be another lightweight breakbeat revealed itself to me as a bit of an electro-rock. If felt strongly eighties, though somehow not so washed out as the rest of the commercial music out there. Chantal Claret was flawless. At that point, I started to show more than an ordinary interest in this album, wondering what is coming next!
Keep your ears open for “Golden Cage” when you feel like something heavy and smooth. While I wanted to hear more fusion of slow, deep big beat, blues and jazz, the rest of the CD brought another surprise in form of a contrasting variety of electronica, breakbeat and retro. It felt like opening a different kind of chocolate every time!
”Deep” is artistic and enjoyable throughout its full length – no track skipping or fast-forwarding was necessary. Collaboration of the two unlikely partners, DB and DJ Stakka, has been most fruitful leaving another jewel in the colourful panorama of contemporary electronic music.
Click here to buy this Album!
Main Highlights:
- Variety of sounds and arrangements
- Great selection of vocalists
(Julee Cruise, Kisa Shaw, Wendy Starland, Mark Holmes and Morningwood’s Chantal Claret) - Good atmosphere
- An interlude was a nice touch for a twelve track CD!
Main Objections:
- Some sounds appear slightly MIDI-ish
- It would have been nice to hear different combinations of the guest vocalists in a duet or a trio.
It’s unfortunate that this option wasn’t explored.
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