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"Autumn’s Grey Solace respectfully manages and continues the heritage of bands like Love Spirals Downwards, Cocteau Twins and Cranes like no one else does." - Gothtronic
"Erin's female vocals surrounded by Scott's plucked and strummed and chiming guitars is like taking a trip to the edge of dream, submerging briefly in the inky waters of nightmare, then finally surfacing in the land of the living once more. A find for fans of heavenly voices, shoegazer guitars and gothic romanticism." - Ink 19
Autumn's Grey Solace returns with Eifelian, their sixth full length album. Eifelian is a collection of fourteen luscious darkwave compositions built on swelling emotional moods ranging from beautifully tranquil to darkly morose. Erin's richly layered vocals deliver a hypnotic effect, taking the listener's mind to otherworldly places. Scott's dense churning guitars create a wall of sound, completely enveloping the listener in lush ambience. Together, they create a spinning sonic world of escapism.
Eifelian tells the tale of early Earth. Vast wilderness, lonely yet peaceful, a serene planet. Seven-string minor guitar chords, the low-end growl of a 5-string bass, ambient mandolin, and other more exotic sounds are heard throughout the album. Of course, there is a liberal dose of shoegaze staples: heavily processed electric guitars, drums immersed in reverb, and atmospheric vocals. Eifelian lies on the darker side of the Autumn's Grey Solace sound with an ample amount of melancholy tones.
"Cold and alone, you wrap your arms around yourself the way your lover used to do. The candle flame flickers, casting warm shadows upon the ceiling, the light wavering in your eyes as the tears begin to come, the memories of what you both had and lost. The walls close in around you, suffocatingly close, and you turn inward, escaping into a brighter dream of futures past, full hearts and trembling lips, hope and despair intimately entwined, shifting and shimmering like sunlit shadows on ocean waves. Both earthy and ethereal, Erin's singing alternately swathes you in a warm, loving embrace and strands you in a cold, dark place, waiting for a companion who will never come." - Ink 19
I first heard AGS on a Projekt sampler way back like ten years ago or so and I fell in love. So did my wife. So when the video for “A Soul Ensnared” came out, I watched it, and got even more stoked. I ordered Eifelian shortly after, as well as a couple other CDs. Eifelian has been played over and over in the car, and I’ve come to not just enjoy it, but to outright love this album. It’s so full of emotion, taking me through a journey through happiness, sadness, and anticipation. Thankfully, it doesn’t enter pure depression territory, but even the best emotions are tinted with a fair amount of melancholy, in a way that only Autumn’s Grey Solace can perform.
The guitar is very chordal and heavy effected; leads that are a mile long, and so beautiful with a bass line that has a groove deep enough to lie down in; the drums are full of poppy toms and snare and cymbal crashes. Erin’s voice is used quite differently compared to many other shoegaze bands, being more of an instrument than a vocalization. Some songs it doesn’t seem she even sings lyrics at all. But when she does (“Halfway Underground”, “A Soul Ensnared”) it is just beautiful, and I like these songs a little more than the rest.
It’s probably not ‘essential’ for some, but for me, I’m in love. Eifelian takes a big win. 8 out of 10. -General Blaspheme
Scott Ferrell and Erin Welton are back for their sixth album; bringing as another sea of vast sounds. It does not disappoint either as the duo continue to grow their unique sound.
A long standing band with Projekt records (which specialises in this breed of music) it has been 3 years since their last album, Ablaze. That album took them in new directions, and Eifelian is no different. There is a heavy concentration on echoed sounds here, especially in the vocals making it sound almost distant and even gospel-like. Erin Welton is self trained and it defies belief what she has done with her voice over the bands career. It is never a disappointment either and has become pure fantasy and escapism at best.
AGS create music that really engages the mind and for any creative force is fuel to that fire. Eifelian begins as it means to continue with a vortex of swirling sound. It is a very different approach for the band and we don’t get a return to the immediately familiar for them until we reach “Halfway Underground.” But we don’t linger on the too familiar for very long as the moodier “Unfamiliar Spirits” alternating back to this more haunted and shimmering sound for this new album. But whilst the song is unsettling and wistful in its tone – that tone changes suddenly towards the end into something altogether much more bright.
This alternation of moods recurs again in the title track itself. It’s nice to see Ferrell toying with this in his songs instead of letting songs only be about one kind of mood.
There are obviously moments of Robin Guthrie coming through in an ode to one of their key inspirations. But this is a work they have built on creating their own sound of majestic chimes, the acoustic and the ethereal. Whether you are a new age hippie or a pure lover of Darkwave, Eifelian has it all.
3 years is actually quite a big gap for the band in their decade-long career, but it was a spell worth waiting it out for. Scott Ferrell is an extremely talented songwriter and composer of tunes. It isn’t a job I’d like to see him jacking in any time soon – and he is very lucky to have such a talented and inspiring muse to add vocal textures to his compositions. Eifelian is a must have for genre fans as well as long term fans.
After a three-year wait for us and a lot of work from the band, we finally have their sixth excellent album Eifelian. The album comes in a simple digipack with basic band and track information. The music on the disc spans fourteen tracks for a nice full album of music, definitely plenty here to please any fan starving for more great music.
From the very first track on this album I could tell we were in for something slightly different from what we've heard in the past. Erin's vocals actually become another instrument on most of the tracks, dominating much of the album, including the opening piece "Archean Earth". On these pieces we don't hear actual intelligible lyrics, but the vocals remain an integral part over the layers of various guitar, bass, percussion and other instruments. As the album drifts along we encounter other pieces that take on more of the standard style with the recognizable lyrics, grounding the listener somewhat, yet still very dreamy and ethereal. In fact, overall the mood on this album is much more tranquil than some of the previous works from this duo, with a lot of various soft, dreamy ambient textures. In my mind, they've really captured the essence of the ethereal shoegaze genre in many ways, while I still enjoy many of the other upbeat pieces from the past, nothing quite matches the way ethereal pieces can captivate the listener. In fact this entire album is a beautiful masterpiece of shimmering guitars and ethereal vocals that lure the listener in, enraptured and captivated for the entire duration.
Favorites include just about every track on the disc, from the dreamiest pieces like "Unfamiliar Spirits" to the angst-ridden "Halfway Underground". Fans of our ethereal radio shows have weighed in quickly on the selections we've had up and "Gondwanaland" has quickly become a favorite for our listeners, and I have to agree with them. It's one of these dreamy pieces that floats along through an ethereal atmosphere of soaring vocals, smooth, yet blazing guitars and subtle percussion for a nice, somber beat. With so many of these somewhat instrumental pieces, they blend together well and you would think it might become somewhat monotonous, but as I've listened to this album now well over a dozen times, each piece does stand out on it's own, maybe one includes a different style of guitar or other additional instrument, while others vary just in overall mood and tempo. The vocal tracks stand well-enough on their own as well, and should please fans longing for the tracks with a little more standard song structure.
Overall we have another great album, different from many of their previous works for some excellent variety in the genre, yet it should still please fans. I stand by it as possibly their best release to date overall.
Rating: 5/5
Ci sono sempre spiragli di luce tra le tenebre, lo insegna il Vangelo, ma gli angeli non li abbiamo mai visti, non chi vi scrive almeno.
Uditi però sì e sono angeli con voci di donna che camminano tra di noi, lavorano con noi, studiano a scuola con noi fino a quando decidono di ardire l’‘arte del vocalizzo e scoprire che il Cielo, una parte di esso, è sceso in loro per illuminarne la voce, perché in questi casi la voce, l’‘emissione dei fiati, diventa luce.
Soffusa, eterea, azzurrina o indaco ma luce ed Erin Welton (prestate attenzione ad Erin, nome romantico in anglosassone della fatata Irlanda, nomen-omen!) appartiene a quest’‘ordine non sacro ma sacralizzato nel sesto album prodotto da Sam Rosenthal.
Di nuovo partner di Scott Ferrel e l’‘alchimia si sente nel felice e coinvolto feeling derivato: “Eifelian”, le sue quattordici divorabili tracce, sono l’‘ennesimo passo avanti verso il tempio di luce divina dello shoegaze-etereo. Cocteau Twins ovviamente: la madre di tutti gli angeli ha i piccoli occhi scozzesi di Liz Fraser ed insieme a loro, nell’‘eredità difficile dei tre nati e cresciuti tra le mura 4AD, gli Autumn’‘s Grey Solace, come in passato gli argentini Mellonta Tauta o per riverenze dell’‘ospite Sam, Love Spirals Downwards e le voci di Erin oggi e di Suzanne Perry allora, insieme formano le due ali di un angelo stabilmente accasato in Projekt, su questo nessuno può dubitare.
“Eifelian” continua la felice successione di pop-dreamy degli album precedenti: titoli mitologici per un paradiso fantastico in cui credere e volare tra le note della musica e gli svolazzi della voce; fingerpicking di chitarra delicati e leggeri effetti nella voce sono l’‘ingrediente di cui si nutre “Archean Earth” in apertura, spirituali e disincantati in “Faint Young Sun”, con piccole frasi di timido rossore sussurrate in “Phobic Sea”, tutti momenti in cui il richiamo al capolavoro “Treasure” dei Cocteau Twins è omaggio devoto e sincero, alla parte più estetica e meno coinvolta emotivamente dell’‘album, tra pause meditative e puerili pallori autunnali.
Le fiamme sono altrove: “Unfamiliar Spirit” ha arpeggi veloci di sei corde più scuri rispetto ad altri episodi di tecnica di chitarra “vittoriana” l’‘episodio dello shoegaze classico, richiamando in se “Victorialand” ed il suo senso vittoriano di orgoglio anglosassone quasi religioso nell’‘arte.
Autumn’‘s Grey Solace, Erin nelle tinte della sua voce, ha colori più tenui che si ritrovano in tre momenti definiti: “Gondwanaland”, romantica e femminile, affranta come un vecchio film d’‘amore in bianco e nero ed ancor più triste è “A Soul Ensnared” tra amarezze che mescolano il sale delle lacrime al dolce e mieloso sapore del sangue di un morso nervoso alle labbra, immagini che solo ascoltando l’‘album possono entrare in voi.
Un po’‘ tutta la seconda parte dell’‘album è condotta su strade sterrate, i sentieri non carrozzabili del cuore, tortuosi e amari, selvaggi come un’‘emozione, avari come un rimpianto.
E’‘ sinceramente affascinato chi vi sta scrivendo da “Eifelian”, un album che richiede certi momenti dedicati per l’‘ascolto, una serie di quattordici canzoni che possono far male ma anche sorridere, e la dolcezza del sorriso, se è la voce di un angelo a portarcela, non ha prezzo, poi l’‘angelo vola via tra le note di una chitarra ed il ciclo riprende da un’‘altra piccola, stupida lacrima. - Nicola Tenani