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The Days And Hills Grown Old is the latest Agitated Radio Pilot album. Because the previous album, Your Turn To Go It Alone totally blew me away, I had pretty high expectations of this one. I must say that this album doesn't live up to those expectations entirely, even though it's not bad at all.
The first thing that is remarkable is the atmosphere, which is vastly different from that on Your Turn.... The Days... is much more minimalistic and even more melancholic than the previous album, and there is a more definite ambient touch to the songs. The album starts with the acoustic guitar song "Saints Island", which is very serene and sad, precisely like the misty, sunken meadow on the front cover. After this comes the estranging "How You'll Fall". This song is a duet between man and woman, with a sort of old fashioned, jazzy vocal melody, and a dissonant guitar backing. "Floodplains" is an a capella track, sung with a high, thin female voice. I believe this is the same lady as the one that sings for The Magickal Folk of the Faraway Tree. In itself, the song is nice and clear, but I absolutely don't like the sound of her voice. This is more a matter of taste, though. "The Liminal Hills" reminds one of the songs on Your Turn... and is the highlight of the album for me. David's unique way of playing guitar and his beautiful voice are combined in a wonderful, melancholic song. Following is the longest track, "And If I Remained By The Outermost Sea". The song has a great, serene start, which is slowly developed with more and more instruments, until finally a rhythm section and voice join in. The percussion makes it sound very ritualistic, and also the voice, which is clearly used as an instrument, contributes to this. It also seems as if the song gets more and more surreal and strange, and because of this it stays interesting for the full 20 minutes. The last song is a great introspective one with acoustic guitar and the same thin voice as on the third song, which spoils it a bit for me.
This CD has some extremely good songs, such as the opening track, "The Liminal Hills" and "And If I Remained...", but the other songs are a bit disappointing to me, because of the female voice which doesn't appeal to me. I also think that the minimalist atmosphere of this album would be better expressed if David had used his beautiful voice a bit more. Nevertheless, this is a well-succeeded CD, especially if you have no problems with thin vocals.
D.M.K.
The first thing that is remarkable is the atmosphere, which is vastly different from that on Your Turn.... The Days... is much more minimalistic and even more melancholic than the previous album, and there is a more definite ambient touch to the songs. The album starts with the acoustic guitar song "Saints Island", which is very serene and sad, precisely like the misty, sunken meadow on the front cover. After this comes the estranging "How You'll Fall". This song is a duet between man and woman, with a sort of old fashioned, jazzy vocal melody, and a dissonant guitar backing. "Floodplains" is an a capella track, sung with a high, thin female voice. I believe this is the same lady as the one that sings for The Magickal Folk of the Faraway Tree. In itself, the song is nice and clear, but I absolutely don't like the sound of her voice. This is more a matter of taste, though. "The Liminal Hills" reminds one of the songs on Your Turn... and is the highlight of the album for me. David's unique way of playing guitar and his beautiful voice are combined in a wonderful, melancholic song. Following is the longest track, "And If I Remained By The Outermost Sea". The song has a great, serene start, which is slowly developed with more and more instruments, until finally a rhythm section and voice join in. The percussion makes it sound very ritualistic, and also the voice, which is clearly used as an instrument, contributes to this. It also seems as if the song gets more and more surreal and strange, and because of this it stays interesting for the full 20 minutes. The last song is a great introspective one with acoustic guitar and the same thin voice as on the third song, which spoils it a bit for me.
This CD has some extremely good songs, such as the opening track, "The Liminal Hills" and "And If I Remained...", but the other songs are a bit disappointing to me, because of the female voice which doesn't appeal to me. I also think that the minimalist atmosphere of this album would be better expressed if David had used his beautiful voice a bit more. Nevertheless, this is a well-succeeded CD, especially if you have no problems with thin vocals.
D.M.K.