For those of you who think this is a review of an 8th grade biology textbook, I really wouldn't blame you. Because I was fairly gobsmacked/flabbergasted/popeyed when my 2 of my favourite 5 members of Skyharbor announced the release of the new sounds of their side project - White Moth Black Butterfly (WMBB).
In this new era of how different genres are progressing towards a generic central sound (metal imbibing transcendal effects, electronica getting heavier, and pop, well, just being 'pop'ular but getting its share of better and retarded songs everyday), WMBB is exactly what I would want to listen to after a couple of metal songs (See other posts for my taste). Why? Because generally after a dose of metal, I prefer something soothing. Because it is a sound I thought TesseracT lovers (me included) would've been fans of in the year 2050. Because it combines a bunch of different ideas - beauty, ambience, which come together like a mix of different cultures, races, religions in a perfect world we'd all like to live in someday. Well I may be drifting off here..
I've been listening to their latest album One Thousand Wings for the last couple of weeks. The most obvious comparisons to WMBB would be Massive Attack, Sigur Ros, Enigma and also Faithless at their most minimalist. It is also clearly a very personal affair, with Dan pouring his heart and soul into the lyrics and melodies.
Despite the involvement of Skyharbor's Keshav Dhar and TesseracT's Acle Kahney (The latter only on the song Ties of Grace), guitars have been used very sparingly, and there's no part of any song which can be technically classified as a 'riff'. The keyboards stand out in almost every song, and the gentle atmospheric sounds of the guitar seem more like a backing to the keys and vocals. In the last 2 songs, the band is joined by female vocalist Jordan Bethany, whose fragile, ethereal voice pairs perfectly well with Dan.
I'm not going to go through all the tracks, but some of the ones that stand out are -
Ties of Grace - The song that WMBB have marketed the most, and I can see why. It has Dan at his best, and sounds like something you'd hear in a movie when the action hero loses his girl (specifically, Action hero)
Rose - The entire band takes a step back here, leaving Dan's soulful voice to be backed by a piano track, giving us a unique type of a ballad.
The World won't sleep - This sounds like an Evanescence song where the guitars are replaced with synths, the drums are toned down, and if Amy Lee were a male.
Paradise - This one is for the light hearted pop-liking-but-not-loving folks
Tired Eyes/Faith - the 2 songs of Jordan Bethany in this album, the latter of which sees Dan and Jordan trading lines and sharing harmonies in a truly sublime fashion
Midnight Rivers - How would you like a spoonful of country with this ambient electronica?
All in all, WMBB offers something that I'm not really used to, so I'm very impressed, and I'd really like to see how they'd pull this off live. And please ignore my usage of uncommon words in this review, I'm starting off my preparation for GMAT and hence the excitement, so my next review 3 months down the line should be a lot more punctilious (I really hope so, now).
Rating : 8/10
You can find more of them at -
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/whitemothblackbutterfly
Bandcamp - http://whitemothblackbutterfly.bandcamp.com/
And as always, please do support independent music. I'm from India and I managed to shell out around $17 in spite of me being cheap, so so can you.
In this new era of how different genres are progressing towards a generic central sound (metal imbibing transcendal effects, electronica getting heavier, and pop, well, just being 'pop'ular but getting its share of better and retarded songs everyday), WMBB is exactly what I would want to listen to after a couple of metal songs (See other posts for my taste). Why? Because generally after a dose of metal, I prefer something soothing. Because it is a sound I thought TesseracT lovers (me included) would've been fans of in the year 2050. Because it combines a bunch of different ideas - beauty, ambience, which come together like a mix of different cultures, races, religions in a perfect world we'd all like to live in someday. Well I may be drifting off here..
I've been listening to their latest album One Thousand Wings for the last couple of weeks. The most obvious comparisons to WMBB would be Massive Attack, Sigur Ros, Enigma and also Faithless at their most minimalist. It is also clearly a very personal affair, with Dan pouring his heart and soul into the lyrics and melodies.
Despite the involvement of Skyharbor's Keshav Dhar and TesseracT's Acle Kahney (The latter only on the song Ties of Grace), guitars have been used very sparingly, and there's no part of any song which can be technically classified as a 'riff'. The keyboards stand out in almost every song, and the gentle atmospheric sounds of the guitar seem more like a backing to the keys and vocals. In the last 2 songs, the band is joined by female vocalist Jordan Bethany, whose fragile, ethereal voice pairs perfectly well with Dan.
I'm not going to go through all the tracks, but some of the ones that stand out are -
Ties of Grace - The song that WMBB have marketed the most, and I can see why. It has Dan at his best, and sounds like something you'd hear in a movie when the action hero loses his girl (specifically, Action hero)
Rose - The entire band takes a step back here, leaving Dan's soulful voice to be backed by a piano track, giving us a unique type of a ballad.
The World won't sleep - This sounds like an Evanescence song where the guitars are replaced with synths, the drums are toned down, and if Amy Lee were a male.
Paradise - This one is for the light hearted pop-liking-but-not-loving folks
Tired Eyes/Faith - the 2 songs of Jordan Bethany in this album, the latter of which sees Dan and Jordan trading lines and sharing harmonies in a truly sublime fashion
Midnight Rivers - How would you like a spoonful of country with this ambient electronica?
All in all, WMBB offers something that I'm not really used to, so I'm very impressed, and I'd really like to see how they'd pull this off live. And please ignore my usage of uncommon words in this review, I'm starting off my preparation for GMAT and hence the excitement, so my next review 3 months down the line should be a lot more punctilious (I really hope so, now).
Rating : 8/10
You can find more of them at -
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/whitemothblackbutterfly
Bandcamp - http://whitemothblackbutterfly.bandcamp.com/
And as always, please do support independent music. I'm from India and I managed to shell out around $17 in spite of me being cheap, so so can you.
Too good a review..
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