Review Summary: Brilliant album that engrosses you all the way to the end (sometimes out of sheer curiousity and confusion), even if there a couple of naff tracks.
Okay, since no one has really touched on the subject of this album on this site, I thought I may as well. With Patrick Wolf being talented with many instruments and being so young when creating this album, it's quite easy to imagine it's going to be a large clash of sounds. In many respects it is a clash of sounds, but with the edges smoothed to help blend in all these different instruments and sounds.
While Prelude may not be the most exciting opening I've ever heard for an album, it quickly decends into Wolf Song which harbours many of Wolf's folk influences. With Patrick's nice and soothing (yet camp!) vocals emerging, it's already safe to assume you're in the hands of a man who knows how to write a song. From the pounding drums to the hand claps to guitar, it just shines with positive energy. This is one of the corners of music that Wolf covers, with many more corners to go.
Bloodbeat is the first taste of his electro side in his music, with the precussion and synths on full attack, it's a nice change. The song goes through a range of emotions, with haunting vocals echoing in the chorus and Patrick's voice singing over the top gives a weird twist to the song.
To The Lighthouse is a great song and combines the best of the previous two songs, with folk and electro both on the cards, the folktronica quickly assembles itself. While this song does feel similar, it's a refreshing mix of everything great so far. With a lack of sight of anything string based for a while, it's no suprise Pigeon Song emerges from the shadows with a sound which later largely dictate the sound of Wind In The Wires, soothing but no one my favourites on the album.
Don't Say No is yet again a trip to the folktronica section, on a seperate I think the blyrics are somewhat something that have always sat in my head and something I doubt I will ever forget.
"I used to say just follow your heart
But my heart always led me in circles
And I used to say just follow your dreams
But my dreams always led me to murder"
While I think it's quite obvious that Wolf has never murdered anyone, I do feel they do corrospond strongly to real life events which may have effected, possibly regreting things he has done in life?
The Childcatcher is a song I can't stand, quite a depressing song, yet again the lyrics are somewhat quite notable. With such a strong emphasis on Patrick's vocals and lyrics, I feel they are horrible, yet something you won't forget. Personally I try to avoid this song and I advise you too as well, but the electro bits are really cool. So it could be worth checking out if you can get past the vocals. This song is followed by Demolition which I have to admit is very good, but feels more ambient and instrumental rather than a full blown song. It's good and a song that shines out to me on the album, even if at first it appears gloomy, there's not enough in this song to write that much about it apart from the vocals not being as powerful as always, but still good, I guess.
London and Paris would personally be my favourite tracks of the album, London starting off with chilling sustained notes from the voices of women before a cool drum beat drops into the back, quite an awesome opening to the song. Quickly it turns into more material that sounds like Wind In The Wires, with strings appearing and the cool drums quikly reappearing. It makes a good combination, I recommend this song above all the others, worth checking out in every respect. Paris is quite a misleading song, as it starts off with violins(?) and quickly goes into probably what I consider the heaviest electro beat off the album so far. This song is also worth checking out.
Now we reach a small decline in the album with Peter Pan being too basic and short compared to the rest of the album and A Boy Like Me having probably the worst electronic sounds on the album by a long way and I just found Lycanthropy boring. I personally advise you to check these songs out yourself to judge, but I am not a fan of any of those.
Epilogue is a short and a sweet song that really feels like it could have been something more and replaced the last three tracks. With some interesting 'glitchy' effects in the song it really gives something unique to it, it's worth checking out.
Now if only more artists were willing to cross genres to this extent. This album was followed by Wind In The Wires, which you get deja vu slightly from this album with some of it's string-based and acoustic tracks. That was then followed by The Magic Position which was a return to the genre-crossing.
