THE BELL

So lovingly crafted, it's almost too pristine and clean. The most classical-based music the duo have done. Thank goodness for Marjana's emotive, all-too-human vocal performances.

1. "Freak Show" (7:09) a finely crafted song whose flaw is the way the music builds in intensity and volume as it buries Marjana's voice. The second half meets the expectations set up by the song's title.(12.5/15)

2. "Sleeping Beauty" (3:42) sounds like IAMTHEMORNING, sounds like Gleb's piano prowess, sounds like Marjana's right in her pocket. Why doesn't it grab me? (Has the band reached the limits to its potential?) (8/10)

3. "Blue Sea" (3:08) more on the delicate, acoustic side, this one really works--it let's Marjana's voice and lyrics carry the song instead of getting buried in the mix. Well done! Powerful! (9.5/10)

4. "Black and Blue" (3:58) No piano? Marjana up front and center with a floating electric background? Wow! I like this! Don't get me wrong: Gleb is a virtuoso genius, but sometimes I just want to hear Marjana do her thing--like this: a JEWEL-like performance to display her own virtuosity. Give Gleb his time in the C section or in the outro, like here; that is perfect! (10/10)

5. "Six Feet" (3:56) again I can hear Marjana! I can make out and understand her lyrics--and what powerful lyrics they are. The eerie silent film blues-jazz piano music is a perfect Edgar Allan Poe-like accompaniment to Marjana's theatric performance. Brilliant! (10/10)

6. "Ghost of a Story" (3:58) this song, unfortunately, relies on too many elements that are already familiar from previous iamthemorning songs and albums. (8/10)

7. "Song of Psyche" (3:20) (8.5/10)

8. "Lilies" (4:28) the trilling of Gleb's right-hand piano arpeggi do not mesh well with Marjana's vocal. Take out the right hand and then you'd have a cool Berthold Brecht/Kurt Weill song. But, then, you'd not have that wonderful C section piano solo. Still, the tension of two songs in one is not easily rectified. (8.5/10)

9. "Salute" (7:27) great song with fresh sounds, structures, melodies, and true progginess. (Great guitar work from iamthemorning stalwart Vlad Avy. (13.25/15)

10. "The Bell" (5:04) Simply gorgeous in every respect: melodies, dynamics, textures, performance subtleties, sound engineering, lyrical content and power. Perhaps the best song Marjana and Gleb have ever recorded. (Maybe the best Song of the Year?) (10/10)

Total Time 46:10

4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of classically-based crossover progressive rock music. An album that suffers, at times, from over-familiarity, yet contains some of the best songs and performances that iamthemorning has ever committed to posterity.