SPIRIT OF EDEN

Like the flawless strokes of a master painter's brush, Talk Talk creates here a vivid tapestry of soulful beauty and elegance. Ceaselessly artistic and emotional, Spirit of Eden is more poignant than nearly anything else I've heard, and its blend of sounds and mood transcends classification or simple description-- they are an experience which everyone interested in life, love, and music should take.

The album opens hauntingly, with a mellow tone and tempo punctuated by the moody wail of a smokey harmoica. As the first real exposure to Spirit's unique instrumentation (not counting the trumpet tones at the track's start), this harmoica positively cuts to the soul, and sets the stage for the rich pallette of sounds to follow throughout. "Rainbow" rises and falls, with the harmoica building a powerful tension with the dense tones of strings and keyboards providing an etheric release.

This transitions into the beautiful "Eden", with an uplifting repetition of guitar to a strong vocal builds set against vast layers of background effects and textures. "Desire" changes to a purposeful groove, with a big noisy chorus which higlights Hollis' emotive singing. His phrasing, poetic lyrics, and inflection are incredible.

The album continues in a similar style: vulnerable, fragile, affirming, and powerful. The nuance of the vast instrumentation is a never-ending joy to discover, and the creativity shown in the production-- from the dense overlays to distortion and effects (highlighted by the distorted choir in "I Believe in You"). I described this album to a friend as "Sigor Ros meets Radio Head", which I think is pretty accurate, though Talk Talk avoids the repetitive compositions of popular post-rock and the blandness of some of Thom York's vocals.

I count Spirit of Eden as one of my best musical discoveries. It's a subtle and beautiful gem in my collection, and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking something mellow and artistic. Give yourself the gift of discovering this wonderful album!

Songwriting: 5 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: 5 Style/Emotion/Replay: 5