{"id":8489,"date":"2022-03-07T19:13:54","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T18:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kessel-tamerus.nl\/Esthers_Blog\/?p=8489"},"modified":"2022-03-07T19:13:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T18:13:55","slug":"lifesigns-altitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kessel-tamerus.nl\/Esthers_Blog\/cd-recensie\/lifesigns-altitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Lifesigns – Altitude"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Lifesigns is a symphonic\/prog band from England. Their eponymous debut album from 2013 received rave reviews. Their third album ‘Altitude’ was released a year ago.Because of the hits the music world took by Corona, I’m bringing the album to your attention briefly. So it is not a late or “official” review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album opens with the title track, the atmospheric instrumental start captivates immediately. Keyboardist John Young sings clearly, but still it\u2019s pleasant to read along in the lyric booklet. Vocal parts are interspersed with extended instrumental pieces. The sound is beautifully clear, and well distributed on the headphones. This does justice to the good balance between the high and low tones. Moreover, you can hear numerous details, such as the sounds of gentle played cymbals. At times, the bass is played funky and\/or there is light rocking guitar playing. The keyboards are very varied, regularly you can hear several layers at the same time. The strings add a touch of emotion. Vocals and music are in a constant harmony, this also applies to the vocals that are used as instruments. The drums are very well played, tender where necessary, stronger where possible. Often there are many layers in the music, but it is never bombastic. Because of the complex structure, it takes a while before you get to know this epic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Gregarious’ follows non-stop. The atmosphere is different, yet it fits together. The construction is very accessible, vocals and melody stick in your head pretty quickly. Secretly is more complicated than it seems at first. The build-up to the end is a bit predictable. But the end of ‘Ivory Tower’ is nicely unexpected. The good balance between high and low tones and the cool twists can also be heard in ‘Shoreline’, which sometimes has a slightly sweeter sound. The “sugarly” background vocals can also be heard in ‘Fortitude’. Moreover, it is sometimes applied at predictable moments. There are many details, both in the beautiful instrumental parts and in the vocal parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The short ‘Arkhangelsk’ has a quiet, beautiful melody. The lyrics of ‘Last One Home’ are sung with emotion. During an instrumental piece, the guitar play gets under my skin. A little later, this melts beautifully with the organ sounds. The build-up towards the end is beautiful, the sound of the seagulls makes it complete. ‘Altitude (reprise)’ is a short, but beautiful closing track. Everything on this album is in service of the whole. It is nicely “proggy”, but not bombastic. If ‘Altitude’ is still on your to do list to listen or buy, then I hope I have given you the little nudge you needed. Because this album easily connects with last year’s toppers.
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