Frameshift is a very interesting and ingenious musical project lead by Henning Pauly (Chain), who among others is accompanied by
James LaBrie from
Dream Theater on vocals (plus helping with the writing of the music). By interesting I mean lyrics, music, contributors and the production, so an open-minded approach to this disc is advised.
Unweaving The
Rainbow is an extremely complex and at times difficult album to grasp, but like these things often are, time and patience will be rewarded. There roams a lot of musical directions on this record, classic and modern, heavy and soft, complex and simple, and after some time it slowly melts together in a rather fitting and mentally pleasant journey, balance is a key word.
The lyrical core of the record evolves around the writings of ethnologist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, so there is plenty of writings on this album that are occupied with the themes of living organism, progress, rivalry and collaboration.
Some lyrical aspects like that of ambition, searching for answers and the chance for a better world can be seen as themes in themselves in a more relatable scope.
There exist many interesting passages and overall the lyrics have quite a lot to offer, and then it's only a plus that they are well written too.
I'll dig a bit into some selected songs:
The Gene Machine is a pretty good example of the different styles and approaches this album has to offer. Tight rhythm guitar, deep bass lines, technical drums, advanced keys, sophisticated computerized backgrounds and of course LaBrie's amazing and varied voice mixed into a very progressive stream of detours and at the same time binding elements.
River Out Of Eden represents a more down to earth and rock orientated side of the album, a slower song with very interesting and atmospheric keyboard work. Acoustic guitar rhythms and mellow piano melodies is mixed into the song in a very cool way and the melodic guitar solo fits right in.
Message From The Mountain is a very symphonic composition featuring a relaxed and innovative key solo and a subsequently key/guitar duel. An almost 10-minute technical show off in the good meaning of the word.
La Mer is one of the best songs in my opinion, a soft and warm piano lead ballad with
James LaBrie delivering a performance that is truly remarkable; his special, reassuring and yet vigorous voice is just perfect for stuff like this.
Nice Guys Finnish Last has a cool jamming vibe to it; I just think the chorus line is a bit over the top. Anyway this is all in all a good song with a down to earth atmosphere.
Cultural Genetics has very loose structure and I think the effect sounds becomes just a bit too weird, this is one of the few times where I think that some elements are a bit too complex. Anyway it has good stuff too, like the great keyboard solo and the advanced and ultra varied drumming.
As a nice round up we are treated with
Above The Grass - Part 2 nicely opened with a soundtrack-wise symphonic touch, and the following acoustic guitar/vocal part is just fantastic and so damn catchy. A great relaxed ending song with some magical vocal lines from James.
Due to fact that the album works out very well it's hard to say what could have made it better. But I think that a bit more melody and lesser advanced parts from time to time would have worked out quite well.
Just as the music on this disc is well balanced and complex so is the sound of it. The result is quite impressive when taking in to consideration the high amount of layers and considerable use of effects that is found in many songs, a special sound for an even more special album.
The musical level is on all fronts of very high class, James' vocals are a central focus point because the songs rely on them very much, but he certainly does a fantastic job I must say, all in all technicality is a general quality.
Extremely experimental music that remains structured in a fascinating way, Unweaving The
Rainbow is a welcome contribution to the art of progressiveness.
Written by
Tommy Thursday, June 3, 2004
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