CD Review:
The Higher Elevation hail from Sweden and have made more of an impression in Europe than in North America. If it wasn't for Ottawa record label The Beautiful Music releasing a cover of a Television Personalities song done by the band (the label also released The Lovestruck EP by the band), I would not have been exposed to their music at all.
The Higher Elevations consist of Niklas Gustafsson (lead vocals, guitar), Thomas Rosewell (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Henric Stromberg (drums, backing vocals, keyboards, percussion), and Fredrik Wilde (lead guitar, pedal steel, backing vocals).
The music can best be described as guitar pop in the vein of not so surprisingly, the Television Personalities, or even the Soundtrack of Our Lives. The lyrics are as smooth as the music although they don't grab your attention. This could have been an instrumental disc and it wouldn't have lost anything for it. Always the Same is a very good rookie album for the band, it bodes well for the future.
FS Staff
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| Artist |
Phil Houle |
| Album Title |
Breath |
| Date Of Release |
2006 |
| Genre |
Rock |
| Official Website |
www.musicbyphil.com |
|
CD Review:
Most will know Phil as the guitarist for Ottawa rock band Forbidden Dream. It seems he had an itch to release some solo material and Breath. is the result. Phil decided he would play all the instruments - you will hear electric and acoustic guitar, bass, and drums - as well as write and sing the lyrics.
Phil plays it safe on Breath keeping his music simple and straight forward. There is nothing that jumps out and grabs you on this disc until the final two songs making the first eight (with the exception of "On Your Way" the fifth track) difficult to get through. Phil decided he was less of a ballsy rocker (as he is with Forbidden Dream) and more of a singer/songwriter playing love ballads of questionable quality with an acoustic guitar.
It isn't until the aforementioned "On Your Way," where Phil shows why he is the lead guitarist of a rock 'n roll band grinding his axe like he has some cajones, that you get a reprieve from the tedious. But then you are quickly flung back down the abyss for another twelve and a half minutes when song six commences.
It is only after "One Day," the forgettable eighth track that Phil finally captures the muse and the last two songs on this disc are magic. The title track, an acoustic guitar instrumental, and then its follower, "Life without a Rhyme," are the best the disc has to offer. Phil drops the amateur lyric writing about love and strums philosophical about the meaning of life. His voice and guitar stands up the hair on the back of you neck and almost makes his debut a worthwhile listen.
Scott D. Brown
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