The Clockwork Dolls' "Dramatis Personae" Reviewed by Unlikely Stories
The music of The Clockwork Dolls on their new album, Dramatis Personae, could most quickly be described as mood music. Allison Curval, Helene De Fer and Cedric Mayne probably already know that. The only trick is figuring out what kind of mood is best appropriate when you begin moving through the album. That may sound like a slight against this brilliant, eccentric group and the work they've been putting out, but it really isn't. It just isn't going to be the kind of thing you generally find when looking for new music. There really isn't anything like this out there right now. You may not know how to first react when a song as strange and wonderful as "Maiden Voyage" starts up. The song is a six-minute tour of musical creativity, a weird mix of electronica, classical music and a few other sounds from varying periods thrown in for good measure. Put that in with lyrics reading like some great, ancient ballad and dream-like, whispery vocals, and the result is one of the more unique listening experiences available.
Other artists are certainly trying for their own niches with similar approaches to The Clockwork Dolls. Still, no other group has come up with anything quite like this. The Clockwork Dolls have any (remotely) similar acts beat on ambition alone. This ambition really shines through on "Blades in Autumn." The track proves to be even more distinctive in its words and sounds than the last. It would make for an awfully enjoyable song on some movie soundtrack about faraway worlds and an ominous mist that hangs over every blind corner on the street.
That sense of cinematic style is a consistent feeling throughout the album. The beautiful, wild storytelling poetics in the lyrics could probably make for a film all on their own. It's likely that this was intentional on the part of the band. Something grandiose can be found in every moment of the album's chaotic harmonies. Of course, that's only one way to approach these sorrowful and adventurous songs. You don't have to consider the movie score idea, but such ideas can certainly lend themselves to the music's obvious visual punch.
Whatever you go with there's no doubt you'll find the Clockwork Dolls interesting as hell. They should be applauded for all of the complex imagery they've managed to create, while sounding unlike anything you've heard in quite some time, if ever.
(Read the full review here: http://www.unlikelystories.org/clockworkdolls0110.shtml)
Other artists are certainly trying for their own niches with similar approaches to The Clockwork Dolls. Still, no other group has come up with anything quite like this. The Clockwork Dolls have any (remotely) similar acts beat on ambition alone. This ambition really shines through on "Blades in Autumn." The track proves to be even more distinctive in its words and sounds than the last. It would make for an awfully enjoyable song on some movie soundtrack about faraway worlds and an ominous mist that hangs over every blind corner on the street.
That sense of cinematic style is a consistent feeling throughout the album. The beautiful, wild storytelling poetics in the lyrics could probably make for a film all on their own. It's likely that this was intentional on the part of the band. Something grandiose can be found in every moment of the album's chaotic harmonies. Of course, that's only one way to approach these sorrowful and adventurous songs. You don't have to consider the movie score idea, but such ideas can certainly lend themselves to the music's obvious visual punch.
Whatever you go with there's no doubt you'll find the Clockwork Dolls interesting as hell. They should be applauded for all of the complex imagery they've managed to create, while sounding unlike anything you've heard in quite some time, if ever.
(Read the full review here: http://www.unlikelystories.org/clockworkdolls0110.shtml)