一听音乐网

首先不要被这张丑陋的CD Cover所迷惑，因为专辑的质量相当高。早前在Myspace听到这只乐队女主唱（Orenda Fink）的声音，就深深被吸引住了，所以这张专辑理所当然也是期待已久。乐队的产生似乎也是命中注定的，女主唱由于原来的乐队解散之后，为了继续追逐音乐的梦想，签约一家solo厂牌，并在几次大型音乐演出中结实了许多志同道合的音乐人，之后便是Art in Manila的成立。我想，做音乐的人，特别是对于一支重新建立乐队来说，肯定是想寻觅新的元素，但是限于主唱Fink的声音（民谣式的气息及宁静），似乎改变又变的那么困难，专辑的整体风格元素还是基于Fink过去的乐队。不过其实我蛮喜欢这种acoustic，懒散的味道。也许听着Time Gets Us All会让你感到有点厌烦，枯燥。但是之后的几首歌曲一定让你耳目一新，电吉他以及缓缓的钢琴声，搭配那种声线，真的非常不错。Set the Woods On Fire，Golden Dawn更像是听着悲伤的诉说，喜欢独立女声的朋友不仿好好品位一下这张专辑。

Who? Art in Manila is the latest progeny of Omaha, Nebraska's Saddle Creek label. The sextet is comprised of former Azure Ray starlet Orenda Fink on vocals and guitar, Adrianne Verhoeven on keys and vocals, Dan McCarthy on keys, Steve Bartolomei on guitar, Ryan Fox on bass, and Corey Broman on drums. The band's debut LP, Set the Woods on Fire, arrives Aug. 7, just prior to the band's falljaunt opening for Rilo Kiley.

What's the Deal? When Azure Ray, Fink's ethereal pop duo with fellow Alabaman Maria Taylor, disbanded in 2004, she amped up
the country with her solo offering, Invisible Ones, a contemplation on spirituality filled with death and God and maybe redemption -- "prophets, pimps, angels, whores," as she sang -- and plenty of Southern Gothic heaviness. With Art in Manila, she turns her voice, which is still pure like a bell and richly sad like red wine, to similar subjects (mostly the soul and its torments). Her band, cobbled together from people she toured with solo, makes it all seem less lonely. More passionate numbers such as "Spirit, Run" and the acoustic beauty "The Abomination" bear this out clearly, but even on pieces of gorgeous sorrow like album bookends "Time Gets Us All" and "The Game," there's the sense that not all is lost because even poor Orenda has someone to keep her company.

Fun Fact: Art in Manila was originally going to be called Art Bell, after the creator of and the radio voice behind late-night syndicated talk show, Coast to Coast AM. The famed broadcaster, who officially retired from the show July 1, is famous for delivering commentary dealing with paranormal phenomena like ghosts and UFOs. Although the subject matter seemed to fit the aesthetic of the band, there were potential legal issues, so the band name was changed to make reference to Bell's 2006 tenure in the Philippines.