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Review Summary: A fun debut, but it leaves a little bit more to be desired. Violins are among the most versatile instruments around. If you know what you're doing, you can pretty much make them sound in place just about anywhere. They can add an extremely emotional touch, like in many of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's behemoth tracks or they can add a bit of an extra dramatic touch alongside a death metal onslaught such as Fleshgod Apocalypse, amongst many, many other things. The fact that I just used Godspeed You! and Fleshgod Apocalypse in the same sentence alone illustrates its diversity. Lindsey Stirling is a violinist, and a masterful one at that. She's known mostly for covers, but her debut self titled album is made up of entirely original songs.
The album consists entirely of Lindsey's superb playing to an electronic backbone. While a lot of the backing electronics are fairly generic and sometimes even a little cringe worthy, she makes up for it by captivating the ears with her astounding skills on the violin. Everything she does here is only meant to accent the violin, and for the most part it works. The simplistic beat on "Song of the Caged Bird" allows the beautiful melodies to truly take the forefront. The track feels relaxed and this is really where the album shines most, in the those moments where the beat is most stripped down. It seems to be that the busier the beats are, the more attention that is drawn to the fact that they really are extremely generic and only really serve a good purpose as an accent to the violin. The exception to this is the closer "Stars Align" where some of the off-kilter moments really capture the attention of the listener. Even then though, these moments are somewhat marred by some of the more annoying electronic noises (think of some of the more irritating "robotic" noises that Skrillex likes to utilize.)
It may appear that from what I've said so far that there are more cons than pros, but really, there is a lot that the album has to offer. The twelve tracks presented here are extremely fun and it's obvious that that is really the only thing this album aimed to be. The reason for all the griping is that this had the potential to be so much better. The girl has some serious talent, and she has the ability to create something truly amazing, but instead a lot of that is lost on subpar backing beats. Sometimes it's extremely hard to stomach the juxtaposition of such a wonderful violin performance with brostep. The inclusion of some more vocals would also be nice, if only to provide a bit more contrast to the album as it does get a bit samey feeling as you get close to the end.
What Lindsey Stirling has given us here is a 45 minute slab of her trademark violin playing with some backing beats, and little more than that. While there really isn't anything here to scream or write home about, it's an undoubtedly fun listen and it shows that the girl has some great ideas in that brain of hers. Keep an eye out, she just may do something stellar one day.
| other reviews of this album |
Aris (3.5)
A rather safe approach, but a promising debut....
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Album Rating: 3.5
I know it's pretty short but there's really only so much I can say about an album that consists solely of violin and electronic stuff.
Pointers would be appreciated.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
downloaded this, haven't listened yet
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
It definitely ain't bad. Grew off me quite a bit though. Like I said, it's fun but kind of frustrating too.
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Pos'd. Good review.
"I know that this really doesn't seem like a very positive review, but really, there is a lot to enjoy here, so long as you aren't looking for too much complexity."
If i may though, this seems to take some of the objectivity/credibility, at least that's the feeling i get. Other than that, you pass out a good idea of the album. First two paragraphs are very good.
Will listen to this. Crystallize is otherworldly. I like me some brostep with a cute violin.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
""I know that this really doesn't seem like a very positive review, but really, there is a lot to enjoy here, so long as you aren't looking for too much complexity."
If i may though, this seems to take some of the objectivity/credibility, at least that's the feeling i get. Other than that, you pass out a good idea of the album. First two paragraphs are very good."
I see what you're saying, I mentioned that before people started saying that this doesn't read like a 3.5. I'll revise that part though.
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WOO DUBSTEP VIOLIN
good review, pos'd. one thing i noticed right off the bat:
hey can add an extremely emotional touch, like in many of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's behemoth tracks or they can add a bit of an extra dramatic touch alongside a death metal onslaught such as Fleshgod Apocalypse, amongst many, many other things.
this is a massive run-on, could do with a revision
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One of the most solid reviewers sees a nice return to form. Haha. I love the straight-forward way you write: no fluff.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Oh shit I forgot you got promoted to staff.
You came out of nowhere with that. Congrats though, and thanks for the kind words.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
You're only negging because I haggled you.
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Unless they come with a video her songs don't do a lot for me ;D
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Okay so there are a few things you didn't like and that's fine, but that doesn't mean the review was necessarily poorly written.
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True, her videos make the songs sound 10x better haha
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"You could have worded the opening sentence better, so NEG"
Promising actions once you return to Sputnik, Skeletor. Off to a good start
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Haven't listened
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But she's hot and plays the violin.
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lol
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
And at the end of the day her being hot is really all that matters.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Dragged out? Not to the point? It's four fucking paragraphs, if anything it's on the short end of the spectrum. There's like three sentences in the whole thing not directly related to the album, and it's because it's the opening (which in case you weren't aware is typically a good thing to start a writing with) Just because it isn't how you would go about reviewing it doesn't mean it's not still a good review.
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Her music is too one dimensional and lacks variety. That said I enjoyed some of her stuff early on but then it all started sounding the same.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Pretty much how I felt. It wears off really fast.
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