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Rating: Cast your mind back to the second half of the '90s, return with your mind to those dreamlike atmospheres that were created every time you listened to an album by Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky (in short, all those pioneering artists of Trip-Hop).
Now think back to the most beautiful and exciting album of the past decade (at least according to my tastes), which is "OK Computer" by Radiohead.
You might wonder why this trip down memory lane... Well, the answer is Stateless, a band from Leeds that in their debut album magically brings us back to the marvelous notes of the aforementioned artists. With complex rhythms and soft melodies, with orchestral sounds of violins and guitars that seem to come from afar, Stateless lend soul to the ten intimate and melancholic tracks of their debut record.
It starts with "Prism #1" which emanates strong emotions thanks to the grand piano scales and the poignant voice of Chris James (the group's leader); then comes the first single: "Exit" which combines a complex and dark rhythm with a more positive and melodious refrain. In the third track "Bloodstream" you hear rhythms taken directly from the world of trip-hop and piano melodies and vocals that instead resemble a piece by Coldplay (from their debut "Parachutes"). It's the style of Portishead combined with strings that dominates the next track "The Language", while "Down Here" and "Radiokiller" are one hundred percent in Radiohead style.
The seventh track, "Running Out", is dreamy, starting with a sweet guitar and voice for then exploding into a rhythm that truly gives you chills. I'd say it's the best song on the album. There are echoes of Coldplay and Radiohead in the next, wonderful "Crash". To end on a high note, two songs ("Bluetrace" and "Inscape") very trip-hop, with Chris James' voice at its finest.
So what can I say about this album? Well, if I chose it for my first review there must be a reason, right? It's the perfect album for the evenings of this scorching summer 2007, to listen to while lying on a beach illuminated by the moon and stars, to listen to in order to let your mind and heart wander, to feel once again those intimate emotions that only this album manages to release within each of us.
You might be wondering... and what about those of us who can't make it to the beach? Well, like myself, stuck in a hot room studying, the album is still perfect, to listen to in a moment of relaxation, to detach the mind from the usual daily routine and make it travel to distant worlds.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Exit (03:43)
Waiting for your [Incomprehensible]
Waiting for your [Incomprehensible]
Waiting for your [Incomprehensible]
Waiting for your [Incomprehensible]
I'm spiraling down, I've been inside too long
I gotta get outside, breathe again
Deliver me because the walls are closing in
I gotta get out, so I can see again
What is done cannot be undone
What is done cannot be undone
Exit this phase, this phase
I'm going insane living with this weakness
A storm is ahead, I need the rain upon my face
I like the disturbance, let's bring it all crashing down
At least I feel something
What is done cannot be undone
What is done cannot be undone
Exit this phase, this phase
03 Bloodstream (05:11)
Wake up and look me in the eyes again
I need to feel your hands
Upon my face
Words can be likes knives
They can cut you open
And the silence surrounds you
and haunts you
I think I might have inhaled you
I could feel you behind my eyes
You've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you flowing in me
Words can be like knives
They can cut you open
And the silence surrounds you
and Haunts you
I think I might've inhaled you
I could feel you behind my eyes
You've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you flowing in me
The spaces in between
Two minds and all the places they have been
The spaces in between
I tried to put my finger on it
I tried to put my finger on it
I tried to put my finger on it
I think I might've inhaled you
I can feel you behind my eyes
you've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you fl0wing in me
I think I might've inhaled you
I can feel you behind my eyes
You've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you flowing in me
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