Susan Frances
10/13/08, 12:29 PM
Guesswork - Enter Alone
Record Label: Crash Records
Release Date: July 29, 2008
With fabrics made of acoustic stitching and sprinkled by a mix of accents in eclectic, exotic and cyber textures, Guesswork is a rare specimen displaying an Irish-lisp in their music relatable to Clannad and majestically-tinted acoustic fillings liken to the UK’s Tina Dico. The group’s latest release Enter Alone is warm to the senses and ethereal to the touch. Movements glide and spin with a luxuriating drift perpetrated by lead vocalist Bronwen Harrison who also plays keyboards, acoustic guitar, hammer and slide dulcimers, djambe, percussion, and recorders. Her pieces are entwined with the parts of guitarist Peter Stothart who plays electric, Spanish, and 12-string guitars as well as bass and percussion in addition to working the programming.
Stothart’s Spanish guitar accounts for the till of samba furls woven through “Light,” while sprouting dandelions of effects are sprinkled across “Guesswork” exhibiting a somber shading and moving with a pensive stride. The majestic embroideries of “Gathering Dust” and “Dirty Weather” have a spiritual vibe emanating from the earthy brew, and the enhanced beats of “Step By Step” are punctuated by sharply brushed strokes. The toy-like chimes of “In a Moment” popping in and out of the melody produce a tickling effect, while the silky silhouettes floating across “Show Me” induce a ghostly presence in the track. Though Guesswork stay within these set perimeters through most of the album, they branch out a bit with the dancebeats in the undertow of “Three Days” as Harrison’s voice reach a heated gospel pitch relatable to Annie Lennox. Harrison’s voice simmers down to a smooth coasting pace along the piano drifts of “Ophelia’s Flowers” painting a soothing sky of patterns. The group closes Enter Alone with “Heaven and Hell” which partitions the roaring waves of the electric guitar from the cool slinky acoustics that segue into the ecclesiastically hued chorus in the outro.
Guesswork’s songs have both an inner and outer beauty that may remind some fans of Loreena McKenit’s music. There are spiritual swirls, scattering chimes, exotic accents, and warmly whisked silhouettes embroidered into the acoustic fabrics making Enter Alone an album that shows a propensity for eclectic-pop. The music is pacifying and yet impassioned by evoking feelings to conquer defeat, and produce wondrous skycaps that please the senses and inspire action. It is ethnic at heart and worldly in its effects.
Annie Lennox, Tina Dico, Astrid Williamson, Clannad, Tristan Prettyman, Loreena McKenit
www.myspace.com/guessworks (http://www.myspace.com/guessworks)
Record Label: Crash Records
Release Date: July 29, 2008
With fabrics made of acoustic stitching and sprinkled by a mix of accents in eclectic, exotic and cyber textures, Guesswork is a rare specimen displaying an Irish-lisp in their music relatable to Clannad and majestically-tinted acoustic fillings liken to the UK’s Tina Dico. The group’s latest release Enter Alone is warm to the senses and ethereal to the touch. Movements glide and spin with a luxuriating drift perpetrated by lead vocalist Bronwen Harrison who also plays keyboards, acoustic guitar, hammer and slide dulcimers, djambe, percussion, and recorders. Her pieces are entwined with the parts of guitarist Peter Stothart who plays electric, Spanish, and 12-string guitars as well as bass and percussion in addition to working the programming.
Stothart’s Spanish guitar accounts for the till of samba furls woven through “Light,” while sprouting dandelions of effects are sprinkled across “Guesswork” exhibiting a somber shading and moving with a pensive stride. The majestic embroideries of “Gathering Dust” and “Dirty Weather” have a spiritual vibe emanating from the earthy brew, and the enhanced beats of “Step By Step” are punctuated by sharply brushed strokes. The toy-like chimes of “In a Moment” popping in and out of the melody produce a tickling effect, while the silky silhouettes floating across “Show Me” induce a ghostly presence in the track. Though Guesswork stay within these set perimeters through most of the album, they branch out a bit with the dancebeats in the undertow of “Three Days” as Harrison’s voice reach a heated gospel pitch relatable to Annie Lennox. Harrison’s voice simmers down to a smooth coasting pace along the piano drifts of “Ophelia’s Flowers” painting a soothing sky of patterns. The group closes Enter Alone with “Heaven and Hell” which partitions the roaring waves of the electric guitar from the cool slinky acoustics that segue into the ecclesiastically hued chorus in the outro.
Guesswork’s songs have both an inner and outer beauty that may remind some fans of Loreena McKenit’s music. There are spiritual swirls, scattering chimes, exotic accents, and warmly whisked silhouettes embroidered into the acoustic fabrics making Enter Alone an album that shows a propensity for eclectic-pop. The music is pacifying and yet impassioned by evoking feelings to conquer defeat, and produce wondrous skycaps that please the senses and inspire action. It is ethnic at heart and worldly in its effects.
Annie Lennox, Tina Dico, Astrid Williamson, Clannad, Tristan Prettyman, Loreena McKenit
www.myspace.com/guessworks (http://www.myspace.com/guessworks)