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Bellafea
Family Tree
Pidgeon English Records
www.bellafea.com


Bellafea is a completely refreshing change from the norm. Haunting and basic, these melodies stick to me and evoke excellent ambiance and moods; within each song delicate strands of soft and loud dance around each other keeping things interesting and showing me that simple lines don't have to be presented in a simple manner.

"Be Still And Know" begins the album in an O Brother, Where Art Thou? feel, bare and expressive. The lead female's vocals just breathe on the track, in a sultry alto way without trying to be, and she is accented nicely with a subtly discordant backing vocal. "Tara" shows to-the-point guitar lines, and introduces a male backing vocal that plays well with the others. "Seasons", by far my favorite track, is just plain beautiful, with breaks that are meaningful and driven by well-executed drums. "Family Tree" closes out a perfect album, carrying the ambiance and feel up a notch with a pathos other bands should take note of.

The production of this piece is stunning; a lot of producers would feel like they have to beef up material that may be full of voids, but here the emptiness is used as an instrument, precise and clean which adds a completely different dimension to the album. This makes the breaks and changes all the more powerful and full of meaning as an otherwise standard drum or guitar line introduced becomes like an epiphany. Subtle, as a word, just doesn't encompass it enough - haunting, falls short in describing the chills I get from listening to this album - the ambiance captured is nothing short of breathe-taking, and Pidgeon English Records is quickly becoming synonymous with high-quality music in my mind. Well done.

From the first listen I knew I wasn't listening to any run of the mill band, I was listening to something more unique, something that has carved a place in my mind as pure and unbiased, just plain simple in a beautiful way. It is rare to find such music, and it is my job to tell you about it. Now, what you do from there is up to you.

-bishop

Track listing:
1) Be Still and Know
2) Tara
3) While We Are Still Young
4) Seasons
5) Thorn Bird
6) Family Tree


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