An Open Letter to Balligomingo
Dear Balligomingo,
You have been my favorite band for something like 4 or 5 years now, all because of the ONE album you released early in the 2000's titled "Beneath the Surface". I really have loved and enjoyed your work and the beautiful songs arranged with deep atmospheric trance and techno themes that were uplifting and bright and hooky and serenely sublime. I've never listened to an album so many times and so successively and STILL loved and enjoyed every note and lyric and sound of every song so endearingly. For music that moves me and a soundtrack to my heart and mind, Balligomingo has always been where I reached to musically to inspire and take me places. I'm really thankful for that and continue to adore and appreciate your work and attention to detail on your first album. You continue to be my favorite band to date.
However, a few days ago I got your latest CD, "Under an Endless Sky", in the mail and popped it in my car's sound deck to give it a listen while doing some of my typical road travel. I'll admit that the first couple hours I spent in my car I had to keep the volume down because I had passengers and we were chatting, so I missed any subtle parts of songs. But for the last couple days I've cranked up the volume and many of the lost subtleties came up to speed - but I'm surprised and a little disappointed in what I'm hearing now. It's almost as if on some of the songs there are tracks missing, layers of sound I've come to expect from Balligomingo. What gives? It seems like you've taken your "Pushing Beyond Enigma and Delirium in the Sonosphere" attitude and talent and pulled it back to "Just Like Enigma and Delirium" and given us a half-assed album after waiting 7 years to pick up something incredibly new and inspiring from your talented hands and minds. I'd have expected improvement in the refinement and depth of the music, and being taken on a journey to even loftier musical heights with more richness and superb character - but instead there are missing layers and the high mountains have been peeled back into only slight hills of height. The vocal performances more or less fall flat, and soulful/meaningful lyrics have been replaced with repetitive and uninspired ones on many of the new tracks. Clever arpeggiation and programmed synth layers have been replaced with guitar jangling not too unlike The Church, Enigma and Delirium and they are nice for the most part - but we've all heard it before and I miss the rich foundation that the prior synth programming added to your work.
Please don't stop making music, but just as importantly, please try to reconnect with the rich, deep, refined tone of your first album when working on future projects. The new guitar work is definitely a fine addition, but replacing the even finer and more inspiring synth work with it was a poor decision - put the two TOGETHER and make an even richer and more compelling sound instead of trading one for the other. Also, try to reconnect your vocalists with the heavy emotion and tones of the first album, forget about pop rock techniques and catchiness that syncopates with the mindless masses and satiate your fan base who appreciates the depth and feel of the lyrics and connects with the emotion and drive that came from Lust to Marooned to Purify to Wild Butterfly. I'm not sure what the goal was with "Under and Endless Sky", perhaps you felt it met your goals at the time, but for supplying those of us who've come to expect and appreciate the overwhelmingly intricate foundation and structure of your music, along with the breathy, deep, genuine and inspiring vocal expulsion that comes with the package, please get back to the lush roots you laid down with your first foray into an album. =)
Thank you gain for your amazing contribution to the sonosphere.
You have been my favorite band for something like 4 or 5 years now, all because of the ONE album you released early in the 2000's titled "Beneath the Surface". I really have loved and enjoyed your work and the beautiful songs arranged with deep atmospheric trance and techno themes that were uplifting and bright and hooky and serenely sublime. I've never listened to an album so many times and so successively and STILL loved and enjoyed every note and lyric and sound of every song so endearingly. For music that moves me and a soundtrack to my heart and mind, Balligomingo has always been where I reached to musically to inspire and take me places. I'm really thankful for that and continue to adore and appreciate your work and attention to detail on your first album. You continue to be my favorite band to date.
However, a few days ago I got your latest CD, "Under an Endless Sky", in the mail and popped it in my car's sound deck to give it a listen while doing some of my typical road travel. I'll admit that the first couple hours I spent in my car I had to keep the volume down because I had passengers and we were chatting, so I missed any subtle parts of songs. But for the last couple days I've cranked up the volume and many of the lost subtleties came up to speed - but I'm surprised and a little disappointed in what I'm hearing now. It's almost as if on some of the songs there are tracks missing, layers of sound I've come to expect from Balligomingo. What gives? It seems like you've taken your "Pushing Beyond Enigma and Delirium in the Sonosphere" attitude and talent and pulled it back to "Just Like Enigma and Delirium" and given us a half-assed album after waiting 7 years to pick up something incredibly new and inspiring from your talented hands and minds. I'd have expected improvement in the refinement and depth of the music, and being taken on a journey to even loftier musical heights with more richness and superb character - but instead there are missing layers and the high mountains have been peeled back into only slight hills of height. The vocal performances more or less fall flat, and soulful/meaningful lyrics have been replaced with repetitive and uninspired ones on many of the new tracks. Clever arpeggiation and programmed synth layers have been replaced with guitar jangling not too unlike The Church, Enigma and Delirium and they are nice for the most part - but we've all heard it before and I miss the rich foundation that the prior synth programming added to your work.
Please don't stop making music, but just as importantly, please try to reconnect with the rich, deep, refined tone of your first album when working on future projects. The new guitar work is definitely a fine addition, but replacing the even finer and more inspiring synth work with it was a poor decision - put the two TOGETHER and make an even richer and more compelling sound instead of trading one for the other. Also, try to reconnect your vocalists with the heavy emotion and tones of the first album, forget about pop rock techniques and catchiness that syncopates with the mindless masses and satiate your fan base who appreciates the depth and feel of the lyrics and connects with the emotion and drive that came from Lust to Marooned to Purify to Wild Butterfly. I'm not sure what the goal was with "Under and Endless Sky", perhaps you felt it met your goals at the time, but for supplying those of us who've come to expect and appreciate the overwhelmingly intricate foundation and structure of your music, along with the breathy, deep, genuine and inspiring vocal expulsion that comes with the package, please get back to the lush roots you laid down with your first foray into an album. =)
Thank you gain for your amazing contribution to the sonosphere.