I was in two minds as to whether or not to actually review this record, but I think I’m going to.  See, I don’t actually think I like it, as a whole… not entirely.  Or, to put it another way, despite the fact that I am yet to really click with Reichenbach Falls, there has been something oddly compelling about it that has kept me coming back again and again to this album to try and figure out just what it is that I seem to find so strangely intriguing.

The music is good, but I was expecting something else.  Perhaps it was the sample mp3s I was sent by the promo company, or perhaps I was just in Never Never Land, but whatever it was I was quite taken aback when I heard this album for the first time.  Instead of the delicious Americana I had oddly anticipated, I was hit by a direct and enigmatic pop album owing more to the New Pornographers than anyone else.  There’s elements of that gorgeous chiming piano in there too, a little like White Rabbits use.

It’s a real album too, not a collection of songs.  It urgent, it’s emotional.  There’s something I love but I just can’t quite put my finger on it.  It’s almost like those hidden picture things that were so popular in the 90s, but in this case the core of the album drifts in and out of your field of vision.  There’s a dark unhappy soul flitting around in there, difficult to pin down, and the moments of musical clarity are almost as elusive.  The interludes and atmospheres break occasionally into superb pop songs, then switch just as quickly back into something more painful and introspective.

It’s odd, I can’t decide if I really don’t like it at all or if I love it, but one thing is for sure: it is genuinely intriguing and there are some great moments here.  Peculiar.  More listens needed I guess, but I’ve thought that for a while and I’m still no clearer.  So, back to the beginning, why do I say I don’t think I like it?  Well maybe that’s a bit false.  I somehow get the impression there’s something beautiful to embrace in there, but that I frustratingly keep seeing it out of the corner of my eye and not quite ever laying eyes on it directly.

What an utterly uninformative and unhelpful review for you all – sorry about that.

Ravens & Chimes – Eleventh St.
Ravens & Chimes – General Lafayette!  You Are Not Alone

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