Falling You

Morpheus Music Review of Faith (four stars!)

STYLE Dark melodic ambient with ethereal female vocals. Faith is a hauntingly beautiful collection of very contemporary electronic songs. John Zorko has a sensitively restrained touch - forming uncluttered, panoramic soundscapes of cinematic elegance shot through alternatively with touching melancholy and honest warmth. Clean electric guitars, reverberating pianos and smooth strings build most of the instrumental melodies, but if anything, the wonderfully subtle, delicately shady synthetic work is the most stirring. Little touches of tone, delicate textures, fleeting peripheral effects and aural turbulence, swells of shadow and layered drones. The vocals are as personal and sincere as we have come to expect from Falling You - each singer distinct and differently focussed, perhaps none more obviously so than the instantly recognisable Aimee Page; her oriental voice inflections and gossamer tones all the more human against the deep cello sweeps of Erica Mulkey on Freefall. Tracks range in length from brief glimpses into beguiling sonic vistas through to a couple of quite lengthy compositions that evolve as they progress - starting beatless and freeform, then shifting shape and eventually flowing, carried by programmed percussion. The intensity of the album varies too - meandering ambient and heavenly one moment, tenebrous industrial grit on silk the next, then dreamy and blissful, late night lounge music - although never straying beyond the unity of the discreet Falling You vision.

MOOD Faith has the familiar pensive melancholia of previous albums, although this time the theme material is more consciously consistent. Vulnerability, trust, self awareness and hope are recurring subject materials reflected in the meditative approach to much of the music. So too the singers variously display aspects of intimate self expression, wistful deeper musing, joyful soaring and heavenly siren song. Elegant and graceful, Falling You often reveals a cool, rolling cinematic breadth that is evocative of stormy skies and dramatic monochrome landscapes.

OVERALL This is the fourth album from Falling You, the project having debuted ten years ago now. Faith is released through Magnatune as were the last two albums Touch and Human. Promotional material explains that Faith explores "what we humans do when life's experiences shake the foundations of whatever beliefs we hold, 'faith' asks the question, 'What do we do when everything crumbles around us?' ". However this is not a religious record (although not necessarily anti-religion, either). The list of vocalists this time sees the return of Dru Allen (currently singer with Mirabilis), Jennifer McPeak (the original Falling You vocalist), Aimee Page (previously with ethereal / goth band Vishnu's Secret) and Suzanne Perry (currently with MelodyGuild). In addition two new singers bring fresh talent - Android Lust vocalist Shikee and Amanda Kramer (used to sing with Information Society, The Golden Palominos and World Party -- she now performs with The Psychedelic Furs and Siouxsie). Faith builds very satisfyingly on the Falling You foundation, all the best elements are here once more, the new material everything that we might have wished for and just that bit more.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM Falling You do an excellent job of sounding different from the rest. Darker and more freeform than many electronic female vocal projects. This album will doubtless delight previous fans - especially those that enjoyed the less beat driven tracks. For the uninitiated - lovers of the darker aspects of such acts as Delerium, Balligomingo and Sleepthief will likely be drawn to Faith.