Search - Velvet Belly :: Lucia

Something to remember that I still exist.

Wmmvrrvrrmm | Pinner, Middx, United Kingdom | 08/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this album very much, I listen to it every day almost. The woman has a beautiful voice that;s somewhere between Joni Mitchel and Karren Carpenter's, and she knows how to use her voice well having studied singing. The music and the songs are happy sad ethereal tales of people trying to find their own senses, working out what they have become amidst the confusion of timelessness perhaps. The musicians carefully craft their compositions to make sure that the sound of the album, once it has caught your imagination, never fails to disturb the inner reaches of your mind. It's a kind of a album full of ambient folkish compositions, It makes you feel warm about yourself when you're feeling lost. I like to give this album to people as presents, people who hear a little bit of the album quickly fall in love with it, and the possibilities of wondering around the unpopulated wide open countries like Norway. I often sing all the songs to myself in the London underground, to keep my mind together, to remember where I am in the abstract world of people wondering about while I watch them.The normal Lucia import version released in the year 2000 has exactly the same amount of tracks as this Japanese version and is essentially the same article in a slightly different wrapper.There was another version released in Norway back 1997 with sound levels that are a little different, and it didn't have a cover of Kate Bush's 'the man with the child in his eyes' in it, because this was a later addition to make the album appeal to the commercial market, so the old version had one less track, and it had the original version of Easy, while the 2000 release has a remix of Easy."

Simply the best in enigmatic mood music

A. C. Walter | Lynnwood, WA USA | 05/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This band from Norway has a rare talent for enigmatic mood music; I tend to classify them with Jeff Buckley and with This Mortal Coil. Velvet Belly has a light industrial sound, mixing synthesizer surprisingly well with cello and violin. In that sound there is something measured and spacious, and it beautifully frames the irrepressible voice of Anne-Marie Almedal.
The lyrics on 'Lucia' are startlingly fresh. Each song is a sort of abstract sliver of feeling--an isolated moment in a relationship, or an excerpt from a train of thought. Each picture evoked is incomplete, and the songwriters seem to understand that the best songs only begin a process which is finished in the ear and mind of the audience.
The song most likely to hook you on the first listen is 'Easy', a nicely layered "problem" song. It shows just how distant this band keeps itself from easy pop sentiment. The song is rather like Robert Frost's ironically popular poem 'The Road Not Taken', in that it is probably saying the exact opposite of what one first imagines.
Much could be said for every song on 'Lucia', as each has such a distinct sound. 'Trick', though, is one that keeps coming back at me, with its icy percussions and Almedal's penetrating white-soul vocals. Also, the cover of Kate Bush's 'The Man With the Child in His Eyes' is a very fine track, ending the album with loads of energy and endless possibilities."

Pensive mood music

majorka | Norway | 02/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've had this CD for years now, and I'm still not tired of it. It's introverted, moody, pensive and thoughtful both musically and in terms of the lyrics. There's a lot of "space" in the music - it's slow enough for afterthought, and also reminds me of open rugged natural landscapes like one of the other reviewers also thought.This is clearly an ambient album. It's not really overtly electronica laden, though, it's the acoustic elements that stand out, the string instruments and the soft, warm voice of the singer. They also use guitars, both electrical and acoustic, which is untypical of this kind of music. Although almost creepy in parts: "I'm just a gust of wind. Maybe you think I'm evil, 'cause I come close, and then I go...and I leave you restless in the night, I'm here to remind you about...your loneliness"It's not really a dark album either, more a comforting kind of melancholy afterthought: "Time has taken us all too fast and too far away, but the dream lingers on day by day......""A day can be a year, or just a short our, can be without any strenght or power, but if you call, I can tell you all, what I've been thinking about""I'll do my best to find you, and I know you're searching too"It's a unique piece of work - I can't think of anything it sounds like. The closest I think I can come is the general mood on Massive Attacks "100th Window" with a glimmer of hope and a few violins thrown in. Or perhaps if you could imagine a downtempo Alison Goldfrapp only using the lower part of her voice range. Highly recommended to all ambient and indie pop fans."