Shiran: Warm Winter Day

Five tracks make up this first outing from Israel's Shiran, a duo comprising singer Shiran Avayou and guitarist Elram Boxer; their Warm Winter Day making a reasonably good first impression. A strong flavour of Nu-Metal seeps into the busy arrangements, as the duo look to infuse a slight hint of their native melodies and musical ideals into a broader, more Western sound. The Middle Eastern touches are subtle, the background melody in "The Child" alluding to something closer to Shiran's home, while the young lady fronting the songs also adds a flavour of her background to some of the more unusual vocal melodies and tones she employs. It makes for an interesting, if at times stand offish feel, the big grating riffs of "Glint Of Light" or "Remain" sometimes lacking the subtlety required to compliment their surrounds fully, although they're not a million miles from the mark. Closer "Burden's Off" shows a little more maturity, the guitars still big and blaring, but the pace is varied enough that even when the ethos is full on assault, the effect isn't overbearing.

It's not 100% clear if Shiran have a fully realised idea of where they'd like their sound to head, too often compromise appears to have been found to marry the different elements involved into a cohesive whole and it is that compromise which lessens the impact of the final outcomes. However Warm Winter Day is still a reasonably sturdy first step from a duo who show bags of promise. If they can harness their ideas and focus on the obvious strengths they have, what comes next could be very interesting.

Track Listing
1. Remain
2. Warm Winter Day
3. The Child
4. Glint Of Light
5. Burden's Off

Added: May 25th 2015
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Shiran online
Hits: 1627
Language: english

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