New Releases 8/14 - Dead Can Dance, Unwoman

Dead Can Dance

Anastasis

Label: PIAS America
Released: 8/14 2012
Genre: Ambient, Modern Classical

Dead Can Dance have been around a very long time making wonderfully ambient works taking from styles all over the world. Technically, they disbanded in 1998, briefly reformed in 2005, and haven't released an album of new music since 1996. This is their first work of completely new music in over fifteen years. And it holds up.

Ambient style works rarely need to keep up with anything, there's very little updating to be made in the genre, but a lot of execution refinement to work on. Dead Can Dance have always been masters of execution, and Anastasis is no exception. The music flows evenly, softly, and nearly peacefully through the air. It's interesting the booklet presents the lyrics of the songs in reverse order they play, reading them you get a picture of someone letting go of their past and embracing an more open future. Listened to, it's not the opposite, but it conveys a different kind of hope, someone looking out after a long life and seeing others embracing their own futures.

I have to say, the first run through the lyrics sounded a little out of place, the male vocals aren't quite as soft as the music, but not really hard either. A sort of murky middle quality that almost doesn't fit, a clear, unaltered, singing. After a few more listens it comes to fit the music rather nicely, standing out without over powering. A good album if you want to add to the ambient, or quieter side, of your collection.

Unwoman

The Fires I Started

Label: self-released (unwoman.bandcamp.com)
Released: 8/16 2012
Genre: Modern Classical

I've only been a fan of Unwoman for a fews years now, finding her through an industrial act no less. I picked up her back-catalog and liked what I heard, even if I wasn't completely enthralled. Most of her music had a kind of unfinished, rough, quality to it. Not so here. This is an intense, powerful, and altogether more refined sound. It's not just production quality (which has gotten better with time), but the album seems to come from a deeper place.

The music here feels hard won, the content is wide ranging from uplifting to, not angry, but certainly not all roses. And it's a long piece of work, sixteen songs taking seventy minutes. Like a good movie, you don't feel the passage of time, it paces nicely, each song flowing into the next without needing a connecting theme. Several songs do stand out as above the cut, The Future, The Boot - invoking Orwell's 1984 without sounding contrived (and that's no small feat these days). A Poison Tree - which feels very spiritual, again without feeling forced about it.

I love this album, a lot. This will stay in the top rotation for a long time, and I highly recommend everyone go out and buy it right now (yes, she has hardcopy available through the Bandcamp site).

Bonus Track:

Amanda Palmer And The Grand Theft Orchestra

The Killing Type (digital single)

Label: self-released (http://www.amandapalmer.net/shop/)
Genre: Rock, Punk
A surprise pre-release single from her upcoming album tossed out to Kickstarter backers, you can order the album. If you're a fan, even a small one, of a kind of rock that invokes all the good parts of 1980s radio-friendly music then you'll want to order this. This is not an extension of Dresden Dolls, or even of her solo work. This is something wholly different, it's old-school and so very new, it's where Rock should go next, half a step backwards in style.