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Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Dream Theater
Switching labels may not have been the best move for Dream Theater.
After 2005’s Octavarium, the veteran progressive metal band was finally freed from its seven-album deal with Atlantic Records and allowed to seek out a new home. It eventually settled on Roadrunner Records, a mostly metal major label with the mindset of an indie outfit.
The group’s first album on Roadrunner was 2007’s Systematic Chaos, a record which was ballsy and cool, but at the same time sounded like the group was trying too hard to create for the label, with some of the band’s progressive influences falling by the wayside in favor of a more speed metal sound.
Which brings us to now. The group is back again with Black Clouds & Silver Linings, its 10th studio album and one that treads very closely in the footsteps of 2008’s Chaos In Motion.
There’s still more than prog, but when all’s said and done, it plays like a much better version of the previous album.
Despite containing only six tracks, the record still runs well over 70 minutes, thanks to epics like the 19-minute “The Count of Tuscany,” and the album’s first single, “A Rite of Passage,” which clocks in past the eight-minute mark. The latter is probably the most disappointing track on the album, containing the band’s tried-and-true song structure, featuring a verse/chorus scheme that gives way to dueling solos from guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess.
One thing is certain: even though the band sounds a bit like they’re trying to fit in with today’s musical landscape, it’s still comprised of some of the most talented musicians on the planet. In fact, the shortest track on the album, “Wither,” is the closest the group has ever come to a genuine single.
The band has written short tracks before, but it’s come out sounding a bit like dated ‘80s pop. “Wither” finally contains a melody worthy of modern rock radio and a hook that blows anything else out of the water — thanks in no small part to the fact that there’s real music behind it and not just power chords.
Black Clouds & Silver Linings is by no means the best Dream Theater record, but it’s certainly not the worst, either. It’s a transition record for a band that has no plans of leaving the progressive scene anytime soon.
— Robert Rich
Back & Fourth
Pete Yorn
Pete Yorn is safe. He’s like riding a bike with the training wheels: pleasant, but the gentle cruising makes you crave more excitement.
On his newest release, Back & Fourth, Yorn has still yet to take that daring step, continuing his perfected soft voice, relaxed guitar and agreeable lyrics.
Glancing at the song titles is like reading the spiral poetry notebook from high school that you kept tight in your messenger bag. With “Don’t Wanna Cry,” “Last Summer” and “Thinking of You,” the lyrics are heart-filled words for your melodramatic crush of the week torn straight from your journal.
Instrumentally, the album has little to offer, but as the song titles suggest, it is lyrically saturated with adoration and heartbreak. On “Social Development Dance,” Yorn reminisces about the night he met a woman whose connection with him was so powerful, their kiss was “electric.” Upon googling his one-night darling, he is unable to find her. The song “Country” shares the sappy tone, as he cries about how he “gets so mixed up” about not being able to love his current partner the way she loves him.
Yorn meets expectations for this album, but then again, his music has remained stagnant. Back & Fourth is comfortable and reliable, but lose the training wheels if you’re looking for something more tantalizing.
— Amber Genuske
Far
Regina Spektor
There is never a dull moment on any Regina Spektor album, and her newest release, Far, is no exception.
Her voice is so innocent, yet haunting. She has this endearing quality about her that shines through in her music, and her quirks and quips make many that hear her fall in love, if even for the first time.
Spektor starts the album off right with a fun-loving, upbeat track, “The Calculation.” Well, at least you think it’s fun-loving until you figure out what she is saying. This is something Spektor does best — she has a way of tricking listeners by making the musical tone not match the lyrics. In this case, she makes even the most brutal actions sound elegant and beautiful. In the case of “The Calculation,” she sings of cutting hearts out of bodies and beating them against each other until they spark.
The first single on the album is “Laughing With.” Just as “Samson” did on her sophomore album, Begin To Hope, this song is full of depth and will steal your heart. The song has the style of Tori Amos, but the lyrics scream Spektor. Superficially, the song is about daunting scenarios in which no one would dare laugh, such as a hospital visit or a plane crash. However, when the chorus hits, Spektor digs deeper, delving into philosophical musings about spirituality, life and death.
Every track on this album is a hit, whether it’s delightful and lighthearted like “Two Birds” or straight-up creepy like “Genius Next Door.” Either way, the songs will stay stuck in your head for days, and you can bet you won’t want to take it out of your CD player anytime soon.
— Courtney Sevener
Florine
Julianna Barwic
While it’s easy to say that an author, poet or singer-songwriter can transport their audience to a new place, it’s always with the help of words. However, with her latest album, Florine, Julianna Barwick has achieved a similar result without the aid of language.
Barwick uses wordless vocals to craft the spacious, enchanting worlds of sound found on the album.
For each track, short vocal passages are endlessly looped and layered, occasionally accompanied by a singular bass drone or slight bell tones — but the music never becomes thick or swampy. Instead, it shimmers and floats weightlessly. Each new loop feels like a slow-moving ripple in a still body of water with both a sense of stasis and of perpetual movement.
— Brad Barry
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