| This Midnight Stream Cinematic |
Best known as America's country music capital, Nashville is also home to darkwave duo Carole Edwards and Robb Earls, a/k/a This Midnight Stream. Their CD "Cinematic" combines the slick sound of darkwave pop with heartfelt lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on an alt.country album and vocals straight out of a Projekt sampler. The end result is accessible but complex enough to bear repeated listenings, and the musicianship and production is never anything less than top notch. "Cinematic" is definitely the product of two talented musicians with unique and frequently divergent visions. Edwards' ethereal vocalising provides the underpinning for "Midnight Stream" and "The Way Inside," and shows she is as skilled at providing background as lead vocals; in the uncharacteristically upbeat "Dream Love," she even shows a talent for shiny happy 80s synthpop. I was most impressed by songs like "Esther" and "Fallen Angel," where she paints bleak pictures of alienation and despair among America's substance-abusing class. The narrator of "Fallen Angel," who "[sits] here with tihs bottle late... All around my twisted fate/mocking me I can't see straight... Oh momma say a prayer" could be the hero of any Hank Williams (SENIOR, thankyouverymuch) song, as could the young Black protagonist of "Esther." The sound is Darkwave pop -- there are synthesizers and drum machines, not steel guitars and cheesy string sections -- but the sentiment is genuine. It's a welcome change: far too much Darkwave is about as emotionally involving as an Andy Warhol exhibition. Robb Earls' is technically quite an adept singer, but I found his vocal stylings sometimes at odds with the instrumental backgrounds. His Reznor-esque muttered/sung/growled vocals on "Black and Blue" and "Where Does the Time Go" were too precise, and the production too clean and smooth, to capture that Industrial angst-and-rage. His duet with Edwards on the Bauhuas track "She's In Parties" is more successful, as is his baritone crooning on "Midnight Stream" and "Down to the Bone." But I found that his instrumental and studio skills were the real standout. He provides a gorgeous lead guitar line on "The Way Inside," and glossy, crystal-clear production throughout this disc. The dynamic tension between two talented artists can result in a sum that is greater than the parts: Lennon and McCartney come to mind immediately. Edwards and Earls are both exceptionally talented artists. This is a promising debut which shows there's more to Nashville than the Grand Olde Opry. Southern Gothic never sounded so good. 1. Fallen Angel This Midnight Stream is: Additional Musician: Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Robb Earls at Sound Vortex, Nashville, except for Midnight Stream (remix) produced and arranged by Tommy Dorsey. This Midnight Stream MP3 site |