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Fathoms
Deep:
Ilya
Get Back to Where They Weren’t Before Fathoms Deep is the latest release from Bristol’s Ilya, a duo comprised of vocalist Joanna Swan and guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Nick Pullin. You may only know them from a song-snippet featured in some perfume adverts, but they’ve spent the last few years assembling a body of work that represents one of the most fascinating discographies this decade has to offer. Their 2004 debut They Died For Beauty was one of those embarrassments of riches that seemed to have arrived fully-formed from another, saner dimension where inventive, innovative, insane music was the norm. Of course, it wasn’t really some kind of sui generis miracle; Joanna and Nick had been slogging away in the trenches for years. It wasn’t so much that their music attained perfection in 2004, more that their sound at that point in time dovetailed with the zeitgeist and the aspirations of a slowly expiring music biz. The cynical thing to do after that would have been to keep on churning out more of the same; there would probably have been more than a few satisfied customers. But that’s not the way Ilya work. After the almost overpowering lushness of They Died For Beauty, they followed it up with the sublime Somerset - a record that retained the cinematic swoosh of their John Barry and Ennio Morricone devotionals, but which introduced harsher, darker elements into the mix. The standout track “Winter in Vienna” began as richly as would be expected, but then slid into territory first staked out by Holger Czukay’s shortwave dalliances and finally ended up dangerously close to something by This Heat, England’s finest exponents of post-prog, post-punk, quasi-kraut anti-commerciality. And Ilya managed all this without losing sight of the epic post-rock universality they’d staked out with their first album. But two albums in a row with some kind of coherent stylistic feel was clearly making things too easy for the punters, so their next step was to release the manicured howl of rage entitled Hootchi Coochi. Attributed to Jo Swan, it was an Ilya album in all but name and, just to keep everyone off-balance, contained a bona-fide pop/R&B gem called “Play With Me”. The next logical step was obviously to follow that up with the banjo and bouzouki weirdness of Carving Heads On Cherry Stones - a record so haunting and gossamer-like that it should probably only be available on prescription. (Although its opening track “Prairie Dogs” is indisputably the best song to be written in cod-Esperanto since the Beatles’ Sun King.) And so here we are with Fathoms Deep, their fourth (or fifth) album, and which is very much a return to roots - Ilya's Get Back, if you will. Except Ilya was always a studio project - the brainchild of two people - and there never was a live band as such. But even so, the concept behind Fathoms Deep is still a back-to-basics one. The idea was very neat: to assemble a core group of excellent musicians in one of Britain’s last remaining high-level studios, present them with the material there and then, and to record the results immediately. It’s your basic 180 degree volte-face from their earlier, meticulously manicured albums; an escape from the endless tweaking of recording on computers and getting back to the way people did it in the olden days. So how did it turn out? Well, it turns out that - amidst recurrent themes of birds, water, seabirds and drowning - Ilya have produced a record that is, of course, entirely different from their previous albums but which has very clear callbacks to all of them. In fact, when you look at their body of work as a whole, there is a remarkable consistency; dragging all their stuff into a playlist and hitting shuffle doesn’t make Fathoms and Cherry Stones sound weird so much as it reveals the twisted sensibility at the heart of their seemingly sweet earlier albums. Ilya have always been about darkness and sugar. Of course, the one element that consistently holds their obsessive eclecticism together is the almost frighteningly transcendent voice of Joanna Swan; rarely has one person been able to channel so many sounds and personalities in one set of pipes. Her one consistent attribute is that her voice gets better and better with each release. By now, seasoned Ilya listeners can expect that when hypnotized by her ethereal angelic register, they will shortly be sucker-punched by a sudden switch to a gargantuan blues howl. But I must confess - the first time I heard the ending of “20 Fathoms Deep”, I felt afraid. Jim Morrison’s “Horse Latitudes” is a playground ditty compared to the kraken she unleashes on the coda. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about Fathoms Deep is its insistence on using only piano and Hammond organ in the keys department. Ilya’s vast repository of influences combined with the ubiquity of the Hammond in sixties music means that, for music nerds at least, a single song can be a juddering travelogue through multiple genres and epochs - because the Hammond can mean many things. But ever since the Crazy World of Arthur Brown released “Fire” in 1968 - at that point, the heaviest record imaginable, and one which was made without recourse to the guitar - the Hammond in rock has meant one thing above all else: prog. So if Ilya have released an album that, while not exactly prog, certainly doesn’t shy away from it, does that mean they have gone off the deep-end once and for all? Or does it mean that they’ve craftily noticed that, in the 21st Century, prog is more popular in Britain than at any time since 1976? Neither. It simply means that they are, as always, following the dictates of their own muse. This is no more a prog album than it’s a John Barry soundtrack from the sixties; they’re just adding ever more ingredients to the Ilya gumbo. No longer a mere embarrassment of riches, we are now into a full-fledged supernova of reference points. For example: the ineffably gorgeous “On Vauxhall Bridge” (which may or may not be about suicide, but which certainly does deal with water and burial) is enough of a Cubano-style toe-tapper to instantly evoke images of dapper old folks dancing close in the zócalo on a warm summer’s evening. Dan Moore’s piano is quite lovely, while the infectious “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” rhythms - and Joanna’s exuberant vocal - more than undercut the desperation of the lyric. And Nick’s closing splice of Marc Ribot and George Harrison works rather nicely as well. “Lean Down” is another stand-out track, perhaps something of a stripped-down callback to They Died For Beauty. The intro alone is breathtaking, more or less a live performance from the core duo, with Nick’s arpeggiated guitar backing up Joanna’s heartbreaking whispered vocal. Haunting, yes, but very, very pretty. So naturally, we also have to have stuff like “Falcondale” in here as well. Right from the start of this one, Nick’s spider-web guitar lets you know you’re back in Cherry Stone territory - even if he’s not actually playing a bouzouki, you feel like there’s one in there. And, like so many songs on Fathoms Deep, it’s built around circular triplet patterns, like so many hummingbirds whirring around in your head. Or should that be falcons? All this and a baritone sax that - dexterously combined with the low-end of the Hammond - shoves the song sharply into the strange world of Albert Marcoeur, until the organ takes over and kicks us into the page-boy haircutted world of The Nice. But only for a little while, mind. Our next stop is in Stevie Smith/This Heat territory, as it seems that we are decidedly not waving and quite probably drowning. Until the halfway mark, that is, when Joanna’s storm-petrel vocal comes skipping over the waves, a reverse siren that pulls us out of the endless deep. It seems that Ilya are neither waving nor drowning but dancing round the maypole. And have somehow managed to condense “A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers” into less than six minutes. But that would be too easy wouldn’t it? The coda lurches abruptly to Jimmy Smith/Djangoworld, Joanna switches to her megafaunic voice, and the go-go girls start it up in their white plastic boots. Bonkers, in the best possible sense of the word.
Review by Bill Stair ****************************************
Ilya's 2004 debut They Died For Beauty was overlooked. In fact, it
was passed over so criminally that they were released from their
Virgin contract soon after its release. Yet they were liberally
showered with critical acclaim - you'll remember their Bellissimo
from those Revlon ads - hailed as the best thing from Bristol for
donkey's years. After two long years in the wilderness, are they
jaded?
Brilliantly, they are not. Quite the opposite, actually: Somerset is
the glorious delivery of all those wonderfully exciting promises
they made the first time around. It swims in a thick fog of classic
sensuality, the songwriting having eventually caught up with Joanna
Swan's vintage, ethereal tones. They Died For Beauty's
inconsistencies have been ironed out to phenomenal ends.
Ilya, it would seem, have no contemporary rivals: with the exception
of certain instrumental outfits (GoTan Project, Stephane Pompougnac),
nobody and nothing can touch their sparse-yet-rich arrangements;
their delicately realised resolve; their antediluvian solutions to
prevailing musical posers. It's almost as if they've been brought to
us from the 1950's Parisian lounge scene, a crash course in all the
essential transitionals thrown in along the way for good measure
(Falling Everywhere's vaguely glam stomp; Wonderful's Clapton-esque
guitar sob).
Somerset's opener September Rendezvous picks up where their Virgin
efforts left off, replete with tantalisingly delivered continental
lyrics, prudent verse and an opulent chorus that burrows gently into
your subconscious, snuggling warmly next to memories of Ella
Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and hair-raisingly beautiful artists of
yesteryear. In The Valley joins all the same dots in a different
order before Falling Everywhere wanders confidently into the fray,
wielding - of all things - what appears to be an electric guitar and
an effects pedal. It's an unorthodox move on Ilya's part, but it
works. Oh boy, does it ever work.
The freshly-nurtured songwriting strength reaches an epiphanic
zenith on Wonderful, a profoundly realised, softly touching
piano-led love song the likes of which have not been heard for a
long time. "If I fall lightly to the ground," asks Swan in her
dulcet timbre; "Will you lie down and stay there with me?... Will
you always be wonderful?" It's a question all too easily asked of a
band given a new lease of life.
Whereas the mid-section marked the point at which They Died For
Beauty fell away ever so slightly, Somerset's midriff is as toned as
they come: Airborne's smokey café bass is the perfect foil for
Swan's vocal flightpath; We Shone carefully ups the tempo with palm
mutes, hi-hat riding and some over-dubbed harmonies that have to be
heard to be believed; Winter In Vienna digs out the accordion and
horns, lifting the band from the streets of Bristol to the cabanas
of Havana.
And it doesn't end there: Somerset soars from ear-pricklingly good
to unstoppably great; from four stars to five. Glory takes on the
aforementioned GoTan Project at their own game and comes off
favorably, while Juanita's skewed, insane trumpet solos lounge
suggestively beside a seductive, Jessica Rabbit-like vocal track.
Sealing the deal with an aural kiss, Sleepwalking propels Ilya's
anything-to-hand attitude to new heights with a breathtaking mélange
of double bass, capricious flute licks and some deeply inflected,
throaty lines.
With their debut LP they made promises they couldn't quite keep.
With Somerset, however, Bristol's Ilya have fulfilled their own
prophecies and then some, meeting their most far-fetched
expectations and, thrillingly, going even further. Without the
slightest exaggeration, this is one of the decade's most
devastatingly beautiful albums. Il y a un Dieu. Vraiment.
- David Welsh
Review by Jack Foley / Indie London
ILYA are comprised of Joanna Swan and Nick Pullin and they
specialize in deeply laidback music that recalls the vocal
brilliance of Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald and Dusty Springfield.
The main reason for seeking it out - given its Internet-only release
- is the astonishing beauty of Swan's classic vocals, which really
take on a melt in the mouth quality, whether set against the jazz
style of old New Orleans or classic prog rock guitar.
Ilya are, of course, previously known for their critically-acclaimed
debut album, They Died For Beauty, which spawned the single
Bellissimo that has subsequently featured prominently on world-wide
advertising campaigns by both Revlon and Cacharel.
Their second album, Somerset builds on the success of that debut,
drawing on many classic styles that seek to ring the maximum effect
out of those breathy, dreamy vocals.
There are times when you can imagine their music providing a fitting
backdrop to some of the European adventures of Sean Connery's
'60s-based 007, or set against the smoky bar scene of high-society
Paris, such is the rich imagery that is conjured from their
music-making (and that's not bad for an outfit from Bristol!).
Some of the tracks are more of an acquired taste than others, yet
there is absolutely no denying the distinctive quality of those
vocals that ensure Ilya defy comparisons with anyone contemporary.
Opening track September Rendezvous kicks things off in sultry
fashion, providing a dark jazz backdrop for Swan's vocals to seduce
you, while there are some more sunshine melodies surrounding the
follow-up In The Valley that recall the breezy style of California
Dreamin'.
There's an altogether rockier feel attached to the lively Falling
Everywhere, with its foot-stomping bursts of guitar and grittier
vocal style. It gives way into a genuinely catchy chorus that
invites a sing-along to emerge as one of the album's brightest
moments.
There's more electric guitar on the tender, piano-based Wonderful, a
dreamy love song that builds slowly with verses such as 'if I lose
everything I have, if I break apart so easily, will you always be
wonderful', before giving way into a beautifully intoxicating chorus
that abounds with hope.
Airborne drifts blissfully back into the jazz era, slowing things
down a notch and delivering another set of vocals to drool over,
while there's a happy go-lucky, folksy appeal to We Shone, with its
cute melodies and generally warm glow.
The rest of the album continues in similarly expressive fashion,
with tracks like Glory providing a shuffling style and vocals that
hint at the deep, husky tones of Bassey. It's in stark contrast to
the slower, more deliberate final tracks Sleepwalking and Still You
Can't Say No that ease the album to its close in meticulous,
slow-building style (the latter, especially, becomes a powerfully
emotional listen).
It means that Somerset is an amazing listen that really does catch
you off-guard with its ability to be different. Those that seek it
out from Universal Digital won't be disappointed.
RoomThirteen.com
Ilya are Bristol based duo Joanna Swan and Nick Pullin, and
'Somerset' is their second album, which hopes to build upon the
success and massive critical acclaim of their 2004 debut, 'They Died
for Beauty'.
Many different styles are incorporated into this album, with no two
tracks sounding quite the same. 'September Rendezvous' opens with
Swan's deep, husky vocals; a muffled, muted electric guitar screams
quietly behind the trippy, midnight feel of the dark, laid-back Jazz
vibe, while the second track, 'In the Valley', goes down a more
guitar-orientated route, with deep, elegant contemporary folk vocals
almost reminiscent of later Joni Mitchell. Until this stage the
tracks err on the side of smoldering background music, full of warm
melodies, but 'Falling Everywhere' shocks slightly with its punchy
swagger, big vocal chorus and a catchier, stomping melody, before
breaking down into funky finger-clicking rhythms.
'Airborne' returns to the more echoing, laid-back jazz sound of
earlier tracks, with hot trumpet and a melody that floats in the air
while the vocals envelop you with their velvety tones. Meanwhile,
'We Shone' shifts again to a more up-tempo shuffle, coupling catchy,
twinkling melody with harmonized whispering vocals.
'Winter in Venice' melts muffled, up-tempo drumbeats with more of
Swan's elegantly haunting vocals and a distinctly European
influence, which also seeps into the French-café sounds of 'Glory'.
As the album heads towards a its conclusion, there's something
beautiful but sinister in the mixture of gently ominous drumbeats
and delicate, icy piano, while Swan's vocals soar to smooth new
heights.
With its mix of chill-out and smoldering intensity, jazz fans,
contemporary folk fans and maybe even Indie fans could easily find
themselves captivated by Ilya's exciting mix of sounds and genres.
BADGER iTUNES
This record starts on familiar territory with September Rendezvous,
franco jazz noir, then veers off into 'In The Valley', stunning 50's
retro. Falling Everywhere defies categorization.
There's something
for everyone here, some latin freakout, some sweaty desert blues,
all centered around the amazingly rich and throaty vocals of Joanna
Swan. Gnarly pearls of guitar greatness and beautiful shimmering
production dusts the whole.
www.ideabiografica.com
From Bristol, terra buona Very British con un prestigioso passato
musicale. Quello più recente, girandosi giusto un nano-secondo alle
spalle, è targato Portishead-Tricky e Massive Attack. Ebbene, molto
probabilmente, abbiano trovato i degni eredi (se così si può
scrivere) degli artisti sopra menzionati. Ilya con "Somerset" hanno
saputo confezionare un lavoro sopraffino e splendido come i seni
prosperosi di una bella donna. Canzoni da favola, qualcosa da
raccontare ai posteri. Un evento meraviglioso, una beltà fuori dal
tempo come "September Rendezvous" e "In The Valley"; trip hop
frullato in salsa Pop contagioso ed operativo. Dopo "Dummy" (1994 -
Portishead) altre Postcards provenienti da Bristol, Ilya con
"Somerset". Voce suadente che rapisce, contagia e fa perdutamente
innamorare. E' bello emozionarsi ancora. Mi stupisco, ancora una
volta, quando riesco a piangere sentendo e captando questi segnali
musicali. Troppo bello.
They Died For Beauty
Q Review March 2004
Is there a Bristolian left who doesn't harbor ambitions of a
torchy, cinematic bent? Ilya are the latest to go public, plumping
for velvet-draped melodrama, orchestral swathes and even a
Bond-theme finale. Though covering similar turf to massive Attack's
Francophille accomplices Alpha, at least Ilya take things to
pleasurable the edge of overkill. Happy And Weak fuses flamenco
fervor trumpet solos and Middle Eastern vocal samples, while on the
soaring title track, vocalist Jo Swan's sassy diva act goes the
whole Shirley Bassey-meets Nina Simone hog. With jazzy AOR tinges of
Sade on Bliss and Soleil Soleil, the coffee table crown is theirs
for the taking.....Martin Aston
March 2004
Letter from, Hans...
Executive Director of SEAsian region
of Virgin
I just HAD to write to you about Ilya........
It's almost midnight in Hong Kong right now and I am listening to
this album that brings to mind everything and everyone from Scott
Walker, Jacques Brel, Jobim, Ipenema, and Paris to James Bond,
gitanes, jazz, blues, R&B and everything in-between.
And I guess that's the key- Ilya defies comparisons and does
everything in-between. If there is old-fashioned, then she is a new
fashioned chanteuse-and from Bristol.
If there is an EPK or music video or any onstage performances, I
would love to see/hear it all. Cheers. I'll certainly do my best to
pass on the message: Ilya est ici....And so is the Future.
Thankyou for sharing this brillient album with us all, including me.
It's been quite a ( musical) trip.
Just wish I could work on this act......
Hans
Adam Sweeting
The Guardian April 24th 2004
Ilya live at Ronnie
Scott's London
Weird and exotic things have a habit of tiptoeing up the M4 from
Bristol,and the latest is Ilya. Part band, part high-art concept,
their debut album They died For Beauty proved an instant intoxicant
for critics.
Ilya's sumptuous track Bellissimo has just been bought up by
cosmetics momolith Revlon for a world wide advertising campaign, and
you sense that this is an outfit on a roll.
This show was a somewhat experimental toe in the water before Ilya
hits the road in May, but the relaxed atmosphere at Ronnie's on a
sleepy sunday night made a perfect fit with their languid beats and
daring stylistic inventions. Maybe they set out with the intention
of making life tough for critics, because their music comes close to
being indescribable, there's something like trip-hop in there
somewhere, but there's also Edmundo Ros-style dance music, cool
jazz, modern jazz, Hungarian dances and grand opera.
The core of Ilya is guitarist/writer Nick Pullin, bassist Dan Brown
and Singer Joanna Swan, with the sound filled out by extra violin,
mandalin and trumpet, plus a devious pallette of samples.
Their "act" is just them in the process of making music, though Swan
is one of the more striking vocalists you're likely to see. She
stood centre stage in a black chiffon night gown with red feathery
trimmings, hinting at a bottomless decadence hidden behind suburban
net curtains. Her voice has a husky bloom to it that travels
comfortably over the cracked rhumba of All For Melody or the Balkan
-Hyspanic brew of Happy And Weak as if these sorts of hybrids
happened all the time. In Quattra Neon, Swan held the microphone
further from her mouth to unleash a strident contralto-ish tone
Jessye Norman might have admired. Thanks to her bell-like diction,
you could hear all the lyrics too-"Here in paradise dog's are
sleeping on the ice". It don't mean a thing, but it swings.
Reviews of TDFB by some Amazon buyers
Bellissimo!,
N.Sutherland ‘truthseeker664’ 30th Jan 2007
This has to be one of the best chill-out albums ever. Easily as good
as Zero 7's beautiful debut, "Simple Things" (2001), Kate Bush's
inspirational and delightful double-disk masterpiece "Aerial" (2005)
or any release from Goldfrapp. Somewhat unfairly, Ilya remain in
relative obscurity beside those big names, and if it wasn't for
hearing "Bellissimo" as featured on a Revlon commercial in 2004
(just the ten second clip of it had me hooked!), I may never have
discovered them at all. How much poorer my life would be! This is
the perfect album to unwind to. It's distinctive jazzy,
Mediterranean feel is a sonic ray of warm, summer afternoon sun,
available any time and place.
Highlights of the album include;
Track 1, the lush, dreamy, jazz-tinged ballad, "Bellissimo," with
its beautiful sweeping string harmonies and delicate clarinet and
harp embellishings.
Track 3, "Bliss." Never has a song been more aptly named! Gentle
piano melodies introduce this warm, summery love ballad, while
vocalist Joanna Swan's rich, airy voice gently wails "Blissssss,
when we're eight miles high. And blisssssss when we reach the sky.
Track 4, "Heavenly" is less chilled, more dramatic, but still fairly
downbeat. There's a hind of Broadway-style musical to it, with its
grand, cinematic brass-band chorus and sharp, crackling vocal
performance.
The rest of the album continues in the more chilled, mellow tones of
"Belissimo" and "Bliss," though becoming more melancholy, especially
on the dark, mournful "Pretty Baby" and the cool, ghostly sparseness
of, "Happy And Weak" which actually gets quite brooding and dramatic
toward the end, the traditional Mediterranean style influences very
obvious in the instrumentation.
"All for melody" with it's upper-mid tempo, swirling harps, guitars,
and meandering melody, is also beautiful, as is "They Died for
Beauty" with distinct verses and choruses, the piercing brassy note
of the trumpet giving it a certain Spanish feel. In fact all the
tracks are great, and there isn't a dull moment on the album. What
more can I say except BUY IT! If you like your chilled stuff, this
is an absolute must-have. Sonically beautiful, deeply relaxing, chic
and classy. Belissimo
Incredible - I can't stop playing it!,
By A Customer 28th Feb 2004
I buy alot of music but until this CD I've never, ever, been moved
enough to write a review. It's hard to describe what genre it falls
into and I feel that it does it an injustice to try and do so. I can
understand some of the comparisons, to other groups that have been
made - but this album and Ilya have gone somewhere completely
different and somewhere very beautiful. I must be smitten because
I'm lost for words.
Worth every penny!,
Duncan Rhodes
7th
July 2005
I can't really recommend this album enough. I won't add much to what
the other reviewers said, except to say that this is probably my
favourite album of all time (and i don't say this lightly!) and that
it really grows on you - i have listened to it every single week
since i bought it over a year ago. Give it your attention and I'm
sure you won't be disappointed!
future classic, 4 Feb 2004
Resolutely un-fashionable and all the better for it.
Beautiful, intelligent and very musical - the uk press probably
won't admit to liking this until it's sold a million copies and then
will try and re-claim it.
Don't wait to hear it around someone else's house and then be
embarrassed when you say you didn't already own it.
A future classic.
All I've been expecting, was make true!,
16 Jan 2004
'Mogkumo’
I've heard their 2 ep's, which were so magic so beautiful that I
couldn't hardly wait till the complete album to be released.
But there it is.
Much more beauty for all of us! You could think, "oh my god, another
trip-hop album". But it is not another one. It's like dummy in 1994
or felt mountain in 2001. A record to be listened for all the time.
The new beginning
27 May 2004
‘edwardknights’
Well what can i say? This is simply THE best CD I’ve bought this
year, and will remain in my heart and soul for years to come. An
album that flows seamlessly, and conjures up images of lazy
afternoons and evenings where your troubles have taken a restbite.
Go on, indulge yourselves. It's well worth it!
a worthy cause,
24 Mar 2004
‘vincenzo1uk’
There must be something in the local produce of Bristol for once
again it has delivered unto us an inspiring and dreamy group with
all the little flourishes, which touch the heart and warm the soul.
The debut album from vocalist Joanna Swan, writer Nick Pullen and
Producer Dan Brown, gently kneads dramatic John Barry strings with
sun kissed acoustics, crisp flattened beats and smoky aromatic
vocals. Swan indulges in each individual tale and cinematic
overture, feeling not only the pleasure but the pain, ‘Happy and
Weak’. Opener ‘Belissimo’ swirls with ambient panache, crying out to
be adopted by a car advert. The Mediterranean come Bristol vibe
continues on the jazztastic ‘Quattra Neon’ complete with another
spellbinding chorus. At times the radiance of Air’s sweet electronic
melody and gentle bossa of Gilberto creep up. Certain tracks like
‘Heavenly’ adopt the characteristic big band aplomb of the
Portishead canon before Swan swells into a rasping vocal. One listen
to ‘Soleil Soleil’ could convince even the weatherman that all is
sunny and well. ‘They Died For Beauty’ r Beauty’ closes with some
beautiful key changes of the Zero 7 variety. Comparisons aside this
is a sonic landscape in which to roam; dynamic sound, lush
instrumentation, tender melody and emotive vocals. An enchanting
debut beyond downbeat anonymity.
MESMERISING,
April 18, 2008
‘K.Prousalis’ “papillon” Greece.
SAN ILYAs music stands between poetic melancholy and ecstasy. A
multilayered blend of lounge jazz trip hop and electro pop elements
create a rich charming and warm sonic atmosphere full of mystery and
passion.SAN ILYA is a british group from BRISTOL with a remarkable
harmonic lyrical expression full of warmth and vitality .JOANNAs
voice is sweet and mesmerizing touching the whole musical subject
with refinement and grace . A TOP NOTCH EFFORT.
Wonderful CD,
September 29, 2004
Felix Hunter “flierboy90”
They Died for Beauty" is full of beautiful songs, and the listener
cannot help getting lost in the breathtaking music.
In my opinion, the best songs on this CD are "Bellissimo," "Soleil
Soleil," "Happy and Weak," and the title track -- "They Died for
Beauty."
Each song flows wonderfully, and if I were to categorize this CD
under a genre, I would be at a lost for words. However, I could say
it's the kind of music one listens to on the French Riveria while
sitting on a balcony overlooking the blue Mediterranean Sea as the
sun starts to set. |
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