Domingo 7 Out 2007, 5h:39
2007 has been the year of new releases, obviously! One anticipated release after another before the excitement of the previous one hasn’t even been passed on. Outstanding debuts, reunited old bands, new albums from our favorites coming out following years of silence… One busy, muscially dense and reach year; it has been so far. Even in this busy traffic of records; there are bands - staying silent for years- can’t be thrown out from minds no matter how many new albums have been added to libraries to keep players occupied 7/24.
So, The Perishers is one of those eagerly anticipated bands for me - to release a new album finally!! FOUR years! It’s been four long years since they released Let There Be Morning which filtered into my heart softly just like the debut From Nothing to One. How many days these albums were left on to play all day long untill sleep comes and finds eyes at late nights? How many insomniac nights were shared with those heartfelt mellow songs untill hearing the morning boat’s horn resounding in the city? How many friends were pushed to listen to My Heart, The Night… persistently untill finally hearing their mouthful praises weeping out from their emotionally crashed eyes?!?! Score! Well, everyone has their emotional moments, and mine is strictly wording with The Perishers apparently.
The four year await is being awarded by Victorious at last. Brand new The Perishers album; cozy, from the heart as usual. Victorious is a whopping reply to all the skeptic quetions floating on air for a while. “Are they splitting up?”, “Can’t they creat anymore?”, “One hit wonder? (referring to Trouble Sleeping probably, which made it to The OC, or few other tunes took place in commercial areas!)”, “Perishers, who??”…
Time to relieve from all these worries now! Time to lie down on a coach, put the headphones on, turn the volume up and simply unwind caving in to Ola Klüft’s dreamy, snug singing…
Victorious is everything I was expecting from The Perishers. A musical meditation full of broken-hearted sentimental lyrics and doping ballads. This is a total follow-up to first two albums with noticable improvements in sound and arrangement such as very little electonic crumbs assessing notes together. I think producer Per Sunding (Junior Senior, The Cardigans) deserves a credit here. Clearly, it was a good idea working with him in the make of Victorious.
Midnight Skies is a typical The Perishers song, that starts in a slow – silent intro of clear sounding guitar. With soft touches of drums slowly rising up, the tune gets noisier to form a soft rock ballad as Ola goes “Won’t you please help me over land and sea…” It is exactly an unerring opener for the album reflecting The Perisher’s fragile soul which leads the album all along.
A soulful intro being followed by Klüft gently chanting “Lighting struck, now its silent and dark” from the heart. This sincere and ethereal melody captivating you for about 2 mins is called Never Bloom Again. It is surely one of the powerful songs in the album!
Carefree, Victorious and To Start Anew are three catchy upbeat tunes which are likely to be acclaimed most at live shows. Acquainted banjo snaps in Carefree and swelling chorus of Victorious are probably the most cheery parts of the whole record. Even at first listen you can find yourself beating your toes and accompanying the loudy melody coming from the headphones. Is It Over Now? could be evaluated as a cheerful tune as well considering the optimistic lyrics.
Best Friends is kind of a retrospect, a face up to regrets about feelings which were nothing more than a secret hidden inside. Most probably, Best Friends will be the most commercial tune out of Victorious. Not only because it is soon to be appear in Grey’s Anatomy but also the tender, easily-remembered melody covering real-life type lyrics seems to be proving this foresight. But relax!! It doesn’t mean it is one of those corny cheap love ballads. It really is not. That is the best thing I love about The Perishers anyway. Their way of expressing emotions is always well-mannered on a coherent line – no matter how depressive or mournful they may sound.
In this third studio album of The Perishers, some electronic contributions can be seen as mentioned before. Come Out Of The Shade and 8am Departure are the tracks in which these beats are most noticable.The stable and echoing rhythms in Come Out Of The Shade have an ambient feel to it which I have never felt in a Perishers tune before. Still it is absolutely fitting with the rest of the album, given the mellowness and emotions of course. Anyway, to me it is one of the best songs in the album. I am loving this Sunding Effect in the studio!
My Own, Almost Pretty and Get Well Soon are again typical The Perishers kind of songs, touching your heart, screwing it a bit and caressing it gently before long.
Sentimental and real, soft and candid, acquaintance and fresh; Victorious is like an old friend coming from past to me. Whom you deeply embrace to sigh the yearnings away!
Champers xx