Press releases touting CDs from European labels can be so funny. In the case of And Life Goes On … from Pink Floyd-influenced The Black Noodle Project, French label Musea Records proclaims that the Paris-based band's "melodies are to be sipped with obvious pleasure." Despite the mixed metaphors, that statement holds some truth. The 11 songs on this debut go down like a smooth drink that adds a little extra kick once it hits your gut. Neo-progressive melodies, sometimes augmented with cello, saxophone and cascading piano, swirl around bleak lyrics about "hope that faded away," "chaos without emotions" and a "mind full of secrets." Vocalist, guitarist and chief Noodle Jérémie Grima's soft voice (which at times recalls David Bowie) lends moody songs like "Drops in the Ocean" and "Do It Alone" a warmth that similar bands lack. "She Prefers Her Dreams" is a soaring epic that doesn't get lost in its own pretentiousness, and such songs as "Where Are U?" and "Lost (I Miss You)" even sound like British indie rock that could garner airplay on the right radio station. It is the mournful instrumental "Interlude," however, that emerges as one of the album's strongest pieces.
Track Listing:
1) Time Has Passed
2) Do It Alone
3) Where Everything Is Dark
4) Face the Truth
5) Drops in the Ocean
6) Interlude
7) Where Are U?
8) Somewhere Between Here and There
9) Lost (I Miss You)
10) Disappeared
11) She Prefers Her Dreams
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