Deleyaman: Fourth, Part One

Deleyaman are a four piece band based out of Normandy, France and have just released their fourth album Fourth, Part One on Equilibrium Music. The album took almost three years to make and out of these same sessions a fifth album will be released sometime in the near future. Members of the band include Beatrice Valantin (vocals), Gerard Madilian (duduk), Mia Bjorlingsson (drums) and Aret Madilian (vocals, guitars, bass, saz, harmonica, keyboards, percussion). This is a diverse group of musicians and each adds his/her own style to the band's sound. The music on Fourth, Part One has been described as darkwave, a genre of music unfamiliar to me. This is mellow stuff and to my ears it is a blending of ambient, folk, Eastern and classical elements. The band definitely takes a minimalistic approach to songwriting and they are very good at what they do. The album has a nice flow with most of the songs having soft layers of keyboards, introspective guitar and soft percussion giving this music an ethereal quality. The addition of duduk, a traditional woodwind instrument of Armenian origin, adds an exotic touch to many of these songs. The duduk has been around for hundreds of years and its ancient and mournful sound permeates the music of Deleyaman. The vocals of Valantin are quite pleasant as her angelic voice has a fragile beauty and contrasts nicely with the deeper mournful voice of Aret Madilian. Both voices are ideally suited for the band's pastoral style of music.

Whether its the short and somber "Somehow" with the duduk providing an Indian motif or the dreamy soundscapes in "Book Of Changes" the songs do not differ from one another very much but I do not see that as a negative because this album should be listened to uninterrupted from beginning to end. My personal favourites include the heavier sounding "Temples" boasting fuzzy psychedelic guitar riffs and the moody "Traffic Lights" where the exotic sounds of duduk and lovely acoustic guitar intermingle with the brooding vocals of Madilian.

This is a good album and if you are looking for music in the vein of bands like Dead Can Dance or Enigma you will probably want to check this one out. If you need an album to chill out to this may be the one.

Track listing:
1. Book Of Changes
2. Stay On
3. Roses
4. Aravod Luys
5. Be Still
6. Temples
7. Somehow
8. Jardin
9. Fill My Heart
10. Traffic Lights
11. Arev Tibav

Added: April 5th 2010
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 2200
Language: english

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