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Blackfield - Blackfield II
Like most people, I picked up this album simply because of the name Steven Wilson. To me, he's one of those rare musicians whose merest influence on any album seems to elevate it to greatness.
Blackfield II demonstrates more than a mere influence, however. Despite most of the songs being written by Aviv Geffen, this album has the unmistakeable sound of Steven Wilson all over it.
My main problem with Porcupine Tree's latest album Fear of a Blank Planet is that it wasted Wilson's unique ability to craft a melody, trying too hard to rock out and thus losing the intricacies that he can produce when writing more delicate material.
Blackfield is a project that goes to the other extreme, with highly melodic and accessible songs that tread a fine line between pop and prog rock. To some extent, it does go a little too close to pop rock for my tastes and some of the tracks suffer from the common curse of that genre: if the chorus doesn't strike a chord with you, the whole song tends to fall over.
'Miss U' and 'Epidemic', for example, feature some slightly irritating choruses. It's no coincidence that these songs feature Geffen rather than Wilson on lead vocals. His slightly nasal tones simply don't hold a candle to Wilson's beautiful voice.
But the album is redeemed, not just marginally, but significantly, by the incredible accompaniments and production of the songs. The lush, shimmering sound is simply glorious. It makes me contemplate what would happen if Wilson turned his talents to production full time. The man could surely do wonders for no end of mediocre pop/rock artists, like James Blunt, Damian Rice etc. Most songs start simply: a light, 'twinkly' melody is played from a single guitar or piano. But each song is constructed to perfection. Waves of strings or keyboards wash over the listener; subtle backing vocals are gradually incorporated. Never do Wilson or Geffen allow the effects to dominate, except in a few cases where it is done intentionally to provide some kind of crescendo, like the symphonic flourishes that build and then fade out on 'Some Day'.
Nevertheless, the best songs are still those with the best hooks. The gorgeous falsetto chorus of 'Once' and the vocal harmonies of 'This Killer' are clear standouts.
The album is a little inconsistent and a little simplistic, which will possibly affect it's replay value, but for beautiful soft rock, you won't find too many better albums. Definitely one the best albums of 2007 so far and certainly better than PT's disappointing release.
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