Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

I’m ashamed it’s taken me this long to write about this one. Because I knew from the art that I would like it. And ‘like it’ is putting it mildly. Here’s another thing, I didn’t realize until I was putting the finishing touches on this review that they’re Danish! They also share a record label with Bittersweet.

The name of the album as described by the lead singer, Erin Chapman: “To us, the meaning of ‘trenches’ was the idea of the spaces in between – small cracks and refuges from big emotions, but places that one must eventually leave to face battlefields of reality. ”
This reminds me of the recent Sheila Nichols album, bardo. Sort of the same idea.

It’s really pretty, just like I thought it would be. Ambient, lush. But not really sleepy. It’s like Tresspassers William only with more of a rock edge. The songs are quite complex and there’s a lot of layers and a lot of things going on.

Erin Chapamn’s voice The female lead is also wonderful. Dreamy and comfortable sounding.
Also singing on the record is Michael Adler, who is the producer as well. His voice is also lovely and very soothing.

This is a great chill out record. Do people still say ‘chill out’? Well, you know what I mean. It’s really great and my apologies to the band and to you for not getting this out sooner. I’ve had it since April for sh*t sake.

So get it already.

Track Listing
1. Stone
2. Skin
3. R.I.D.
4. Crazy Burn
5. Sweet Pollution
6. Make This Easier
7. New Horizons
8. The Searchers
9. Prototype
10. Stars
11. In Your Eyes
12. Trenches

[Sepiamusic Official Site]

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The post Album Review: Trenches by Sepiamusic first appeared on Collected Sounds.

Album Name: This Kind of Life
Artist: The Mary Dream
Year/Label: 2010 / SuperUniverse Records

[Download at Amazon]

Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

The Mary Dream is Elise Bellew and Blake Ryan Dayton. They met through a classified ad in San Francisco. They’ve since moved to Nashville. While researching them I came upon a cover shot of their previous record, Beautiful World and thought it looked familiar. Sure enough, [I reviewed it] back in 2006 and loved that one too.

This album is, as you might expect, dreamy. With the slow, gorgeous vocals and an amazingly lush sound being made by two people. I’d describe them as sort of like a Tresspassers William but a touch edgier.

It’s hard for me to pick out favorite tracks, because they’re all great, but I will say that Sing really stands out to me.

This is a great album that I’m sure I’ll be listening to long after this is posted.

Track Listing
01. Deeper
02. Sing
03. This Kind of Life
04. Wrong Every Time
05. Below Zero
06. The Best of Me
07. Home
08. Lighten Up
09. Best Thing
10. Burning Bridges
11. Save You

[The Mary Dream Official Site]

The post Album Review: This Kind of Life by The Mary Dream first appeared on Collected Sounds.