Search - Mirabilis :: Pleiades

These siren songs are worth the shipwreck

Scott Sweet | Colorado Springs, CO | 04/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you've seen "The Shawshank Redemption," do you remember when Tim Robbins plays the soprano duet over the prison speakers? All the convicts are frozen in place, hypnotized. Such is the potential of the human voice.Apart from some guest vocals and mild instrumentation, the CD boils down to the enchanting harmonies of Dru and Summer. "Pleiades" is a perfect fit for fans of Lisa Gerrard, Miranda Sex Garden and The Changelings. Many of the lyrics are from previous centuries. Seventeen tracks of madrigal/ethereal/heavenly voices beauty, all in a clever eco-pack with a foam disc tab instead of a plastic frame. My personal favorites:
"In The Dark" - a tribal siren song, likely good for getting thy freake on.
"Haunted" - vocal ether floating over dark ambience; well-named
"Hide Away" - the comfort of C-major, tempered with lyrical pain.
(This one chases me in my sleep. It's a gentler take on Nine Inch Nails' "Something I Can Never Have.")"Riu Riu Chiu" - some of the best harmonizing on the whole CD.
"Invocation of The Sun" - Katy Belle's vocals have kind of an Emilianna Torrini fragility.
"An Epitaph" - if this doesn't end up in at least an indie film, I'm gonna whup somebody.
"Pleiades (Reprise)" - brief and soothing, in a manner similar to Faith and The Muse's "The Birds of Rhiannon."Mirabilis is the best thing to come out of Texas since Ranger Cordell Walker."

Amazing vocals!

Geoffrey Cain | Tacoma, WA United States | 06/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a gorgeous album -- lush vocals and intelligent mixing. Sensitivly produced, here is music beyond genre definitions; it decants modernly gothic with hints of ancient awakenings and finishes medieval on the back of the palette. When I first heard the tempo of "Riu Riu Chiu" elsewhere, I raised an eyebrow, but the mixing reveals not just a love for the music but for the richness of the language.This disc pares well with This Ascension's "Sever.""