Search - Fallen Skyward :: All The Same

Sometimes reminiscent of early Roxy Music, sometimes a little Pink Floyd, the atmospheric and mellow music of Fallen Skyward gathers you into its dance of reversal -- its fall to the sky. The band's debut CD, All the Same, released July 2001, is smart and infectious. The bend toward the psychedelic and improvisational nature of the band's live performances emerges amidst a collection of pleasing melodic hooks. In fact, it's the approachability of the songs' melodies that draws you in. It's the harmonic texture and warmth that keeps you coming back. In concept, there's a nod to Steely Dan -- a well-crafted, complex music that really just approaches you, the listener. All the Same is a concept album, each song constructed to flesh out the details of an integrated story -- the story of broken humanity trying to be; the story of those who find themselves longing to hold onto one another, but ever just out of reach; the story of the harmonic drone of waves against the shore. Unrequited love, shouldered blame, missed opportunity; all drift up through the music, which acts like a counterbalance, into the light of the sky. Ultimately, the listener finds oneself, at the end of All the Same, on the ocean shore, embracing the sunset, the wave set, ostensibly hidden from the complexity and possible terrors of the deep blue sea, at least for the moment, invited to accept the kinship inherent in the reach toward one another that friends share.