Danny Cavanagh
Monochrome

If Steven Wilson wasn't enough to gift us with an exemplary solo album + album with Blackfield, here comes another strong combination from Daniel Cavanagh. Not content with yet another convincing effort with his Anathema, he gifts us with a remarkable solo gem.

"Monochrome" is a delicate, intense, and emotional album. Clearly, it's not a surprise since it comes from the emotional band par excellence; indeed, here the good Daniel wants to even intensify the emotionality and the result is evident to all. Some may find it excessively sentimental but it may be those who don't really know how to let themselves be lulled by emotions.

Seven light, soft, relaxed tracks, guided by a piano that's always calm and never reckless, and by organ and keyboard layers that are truly chilling. Delicate tracks that, by drawing heavily from post-rock, shoegaze, and dream pop (as Anathema have been doing for at least a decade), offer chills-inducing crescendos with voices and guitars that raise the tones to fully unleash emotional charge, nothing wants to be repressed. And it's this spirit that characterizes tracks like "The Exorcist," "This Music," "Soho" (with its long dreamlike piano tail), and "Oceans of Time"; the choice to host a suggestive and worthy surrogate voice of Lee Douglas like Anneke Van Giersbergen proves to be victorious.

Things push a bit further in "The Silent Flight of the Raven Winged Hours," where the use of the piano is more elaborate and varied, as is the use of the violin, with ominous synth appearing in the central part and a nice guitar tremolo in the final part. "Some Dreams Come True" instead brings the delicacy and atmospheric sensitivity to an ethereal level, almost reminiscent of Sigur Ros. The only deviation from delicacy and tranquility is the brief "Dawn," a lively folk track guided by robust acoustic passages and a vibrant violin.

Overall, a hit, perhaps not an epoch-making record, not a masterpiece, but definitely a grand emotional explosion.