Thirteen Senses are an Indie/Melodic band from Cornwall and have just released their third album, Crystal Sounds on their own, B-Sirius, label. It follows up what they have described as “a difficult second album” and features finished tracks of demos they had released the middle of last year. I had heard of the band before, first through their popular track Into The Fire which featured on episodes of The 4400 amongst others. That, combined with a brief look in on them at a festival a while back, I was very interested to see how they would follow up, “the difficult second album”.
The album opens with the title track Crystal Sounds. On their Facebook page, the band themselves say the opener “Like riding a wave of pure diamonds, it’s one to sweep you up and take you away”. It’s a euphoric track that puts one in mind of the Danish band Mew what with the opening reverberating handclaps and vocal harmonies. It shows the development of a more mature sound for the band, and vocalist Will South seems to know it as he opens with the lyric “A little wiser now”. The drums kick in and the song enters its top gear but still retains its choral tendencies as strings and pianos join in to give the track an almost epic quality. A brilliant start to the album, and definitely one of its best. The next track, and first single from the album, The Loneliest Star, carries on in the same manner with big vocals although it’s a bit more to the point than the opener. Up-tempo kick and snare hits bring you in combined with an ethereal pad and South’s introspective love lyrics, “At the end of time, I will hold you in my arms again”, keep the band still somewhat within the Indie mentality, while the instrumentation pushes them forward towards something with a lot more depth.
Next follows the second single from the album, Home. It’s a slightly more bland track that the previous ones. Don’t get me wrong, it still carries the same elements as the two openers, choirs, keys and large sounding guitars, but the execution here is a bit lacking. I wondered if the more standard indie stylings were creeping into the album and sure enough, the album starts to lose it and starts to stagnate a bit. Imagine Life and Suddenly follow suit and seem to follow tracks that have worked for them in the past such as their biggest track, Into The Fire, from their previous album. Again, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with that style, it’s just that the album started out with such potential and I was a bit disappointed not to see them keep things interesting.
There are glimmers of hope later in the album however. Animals is a beautiful track. The pattering of a distant arpeggiator, echoing guitars, and a graceful lead bassline are the core of the first half of the song. The first half fades, and the band add layers and layers of instruments on top of an elegant piano line and it builds to a euphoric climax worthy of Coldplay and Sigur Ros. This is the essence of the depth that was hinted at earlier in the album. I Saw Stars Disappear hints at this too, as does the album closer, Out There. This track is by far the biggest sounding on the album, and is a natural closer with is grandiose string arrangements and its monumental aura.
The album also features 3 bonus tracks and the first of these, Send Myself To Sleep, is a largely acoustic number. However, the orchestral pieces feature again and the track benefits greatly from it making it incredibly sweet. The third of the extra tracks, In The Crowding, is another track that stands out and strikes a good balance between the Indie and Melodic elements of the music. For me, that’s the main point to make about the album. It hovers between the ever-dating, average, alternative side, and the larger sounding, progressive tones. At times, one side favours, then the other side favours, but the band really shine when they hit the balance in tracks like Crystal Sounds, The Loneliest Star, and In The Crowding. Thirteen Senses are really pushing the boat out with this album, in terms of depth, lyricism and instrumentation. Definitely one to check out.
Drop-d Rating: 7/10
Published on Drop-D.ie, April 4th, 2011
The album opens with the title track Crystal Sounds. On their Facebook page, the band themselves say the opener “Like riding a wave of pure diamonds, it’s one to sweep you up and take you away”. It’s a euphoric track that puts one in mind of the Danish band Mew what with the opening reverberating handclaps and vocal harmonies. It shows the development of a more mature sound for the band, and vocalist Will South seems to know it as he opens with the lyric “A little wiser now”. The drums kick in and the song enters its top gear but still retains its choral tendencies as strings and pianos join in to give the track an almost epic quality. A brilliant start to the album, and definitely one of its best. The next track, and first single from the album, The Loneliest Star, carries on in the same manner with big vocals although it’s a bit more to the point than the opener. Up-tempo kick and snare hits bring you in combined with an ethereal pad and South’s introspective love lyrics, “At the end of time, I will hold you in my arms again”, keep the band still somewhat within the Indie mentality, while the instrumentation pushes them forward towards something with a lot more depth.
Next follows the second single from the album, Home. It’s a slightly more bland track that the previous ones. Don’t get me wrong, it still carries the same elements as the two openers, choirs, keys and large sounding guitars, but the execution here is a bit lacking. I wondered if the more standard indie stylings were creeping into the album and sure enough, the album starts to lose it and starts to stagnate a bit. Imagine Life and Suddenly follow suit and seem to follow tracks that have worked for them in the past such as their biggest track, Into The Fire, from their previous album. Again, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with that style, it’s just that the album started out with such potential and I was a bit disappointed not to see them keep things interesting.
There are glimmers of hope later in the album however. Animals is a beautiful track. The pattering of a distant arpeggiator, echoing guitars, and a graceful lead bassline are the core of the first half of the song. The first half fades, and the band add layers and layers of instruments on top of an elegant piano line and it builds to a euphoric climax worthy of Coldplay and Sigur Ros. This is the essence of the depth that was hinted at earlier in the album. I Saw Stars Disappear hints at this too, as does the album closer, Out There. This track is by far the biggest sounding on the album, and is a natural closer with is grandiose string arrangements and its monumental aura.
The album also features 3 bonus tracks and the first of these, Send Myself To Sleep, is a largely acoustic number. However, the orchestral pieces feature again and the track benefits greatly from it making it incredibly sweet. The third of the extra tracks, In The Crowding, is another track that stands out and strikes a good balance between the Indie and Melodic elements of the music. For me, that’s the main point to make about the album. It hovers between the ever-dating, average, alternative side, and the larger sounding, progressive tones. At times, one side favours, then the other side favours, but the band really shine when they hit the balance in tracks like Crystal Sounds, The Loneliest Star, and In The Crowding. Thirteen Senses are really pushing the boat out with this album, in terms of depth, lyricism and instrumentation. Definitely one to check out.
Drop-d Rating: 7/10
Published on Drop-D.ie, April 4th, 2011
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