REVIEWS . . .
John Tucker Freelance Music Reviewer
www.johntuckeronline.com
There’s something in a line in the penultimate song ‘Cloud’ – “I’m suspended in a moment / cushioned in a cloud” – which possibly sums up Luna Rossa’s debut album. Serene and captivating, ‘Sleeping Pills & Lullabies’ is a collection of acoustic material written and performed by Anne-Marie Helder and Jonathan Edwards, the driving force behind Panic Room. As this is a solo album (if something played by two people can be legitimately described as solo!), in that between them Helder and Edwards handle everything aside from strings, double bass and a little electric guitar and dobro supplied by co-producer and Panic Room collaborator Tim Hammill. The pair have decided to present this collection of stripped down (but no less intricate and no less exciting) compositions under the name Luna Rossa.
Given their origins therefore it will come as little surprise that the compositions on ‘Sleeping Pills & Lullabies’ are very much in the same vein as much of Panic Room’s lighter moments. But the songs themselves – all originals aside from a cover of The Magnetic Fields’ ‘The Book Of Love’ – have an almost unbearable lightness of being, a delicacy and passion from which the performers draw both inspiration and delight. This beguiling fragility is counterbalanced by the depth of emotion conveyed by the two performers, sympathetically supported at times by a small string section. The material is rich in quality and diversity, with the minimalism in backing and overlaid instrumentation often adding to rather than subtracting from their opulence. At times in fact the very sparseness of the arrangements allows Helder’s exquisite and enticing voice (the most obvious focal point on such an offering) to breathe life into the songs and send them soaring.
There’s so much to discover as ‘Sleeping Pills & Lullabies’ spins and uncovers its secrets. There’s ‘La Clef’ – the key – a song Helder delivers almost breathlessly in French; the upbeat, guitar-driven ‘Mad About You’, the one instrumental, ‘Leaving For the Last Time’, beautifully played on piano and flute and sandwiched between the impossibly emotional ‘Scream At The Sky’ and ‘Fight Or Flight’ a song which, driven by some programmed drums and excitable orchestration, is the closest Luna Rossa come to ‘flooring it’. There’s a treasure trove of jewels buried within the lyrics too, one example being the clever way the anticipated mysticism of the poignant ‘The Dark Room’ is actually played off against photographs being developed in a photographer’s darkroom.
Saving the best till last, the aforementioned ‘Cloud’ – spoken rather than sung by Helder – is almost a moment of safety, a sanctuary from the coming storm, as these precious minutes of ethereal bliss give way to ‘Gasp’. Arousing and disturbing, and building relentlessly on a seemingly simplistic refrain, ‘Gasp’ betrays an undercurrent of malevolence despite a lyrical passion play of heartfelt desire, and leaves behind it a haunting that’s hard to exorcise even after its final notes have played out.
Entrancing, enchanting and inspiring, ‘Sleeping Pills & Lullabies’ is a beautiful collection of work; like waves crashing on the shore, it power is in the way it captivates and mesmerises time and time again.
© John Tucker March 2013
Given their origins therefore it will come as little surprise that the compositions on ‘Sleeping Pills & Lullabies’ are very much in the same vein as much of Panic Room’s lighter moments. But the songs themselves – all originals aside from a cover of The Magnetic Fields’ ‘The Book Of Love’ – have an almost unbearable lightness of being, a delicacy and passion from which the performers draw both inspiration and delight. This beguiling fragility is counterbalanced by the depth of emotion conveyed by the two performers, sympathetically supported at times by a small string section. The material is rich in quality and diversity, with the minimalism in backing and overlaid instrumentation often adding to rather than subtracting from their opulence. At times in fact the very sparseness of the arrangements allows Helder’s exquisite and enticing voice (the most obvious focal point on such an offering) to breathe life into the songs and send them soaring.
There’s so much to discover as ‘Sleeping Pills & Lullabies’ spins and uncovers its secrets. There’s ‘La Clef’ – the key – a song Helder delivers almost breathlessly in French; the upbeat, guitar-driven ‘Mad About You’, the one instrumental, ‘Leaving For the Last Time’, beautifully played on piano and flute and sandwiched between the impossibly emotional ‘Scream At The Sky’ and ‘Fight Or Flight’ a song which, driven by some programmed drums and excitable orchestration, is the closest Luna Rossa come to ‘flooring it’. There’s a treasure trove of jewels buried within the lyrics too, one example being the clever way the anticipated mysticism of the poignant ‘The Dark Room’ is actually played off against photographs being developed in a photographer’s darkroom.
Saving the best till last, the aforementioned ‘Cloud’ – spoken rather than sung by Helder – is almost a moment of safety, a sanctuary from the coming storm, as these precious minutes of ethereal bliss give way to ‘Gasp’. Arousing and disturbing, and building relentlessly on a seemingly simplistic refrain, ‘Gasp’ betrays an undercurrent of malevolence despite a lyrical passion play of heartfelt desire, and leaves behind it a haunting that’s hard to exorcise even after its final notes have played out.
Entrancing, enchanting and inspiring, ‘Sleeping Pills & Lullabies’ is a beautiful collection of work; like waves crashing on the shore, it power is in the way it captivates and mesmerises time and time again.
© John Tucker March 2013
