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Angels of Light
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EXCLAIM! MAGAZINE | by Roman Sokal LIVE Review from Healey's, Toronto ON - March 29, 2003Whether one is aware or not about just who the legendary M. Gira is, the point is that he will make you listen whether you want to or not. Gira, who was the force at the nucleus of the legendary gloomy Turkish-sounding mosaic collective known as the Swans, has long garnered respect by many worldwide. And with his current outfit, Angels of Light, he furthers explorations into the mind's eye tenfold, yet in a much more minimal, stark and almost comfortably damning and undeniable manner. The tapestry behind AOL, which also featured eccentric opener Devendra Banhart on additional guitar, is more acoustic and folk-based, with searing clouds of background drones. As transcending as that is on its own, it is Gira's wary viper/schoolmaster-like voice with intense psychologically universal and realistic storytelling lyrics that forces one to pay attention. And judging by the reactions of the attentive audience, Gira and the Angels of Light succeeded fully in creating a balance of fear and beauty. With each rhythm came a physiological response — one could almost hear the blood coagulate and then jettison through their veins as......
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Devendra Banhart, Oh Me Oh My...
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Spin Magazine | by Jeffrey Rotterswings from precious to perverse like a bipolar Tiny Tim“This 22-song tangle of folk fragments and stream-of-consciousness glam ditties is the product of a deranged Texan with way too much alone time. Using a hissing four-track, an acoustic guitar, and a madcap quaver, Banhart swings from precious to perverse like a bipolar Tiny Tim.â€...
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Devendra Banhart | Review
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New York Sun | MARTIN EDLUNDThe Good FightTo kick off his first national tour earlier this year, 21-year-old Devendra Banhart played a free show at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Pete's is a small club, far too small for the crowd of eager fans who turned up to see him play. They didn't seem to recognize him, however, and Banhart had to fight his way to the stage. As he took his place in front of the microphone, a question rippled across the crowd, "Is that him? Is that Devendra?" It's a natural enough question: Banhart's look and sound don't match up. He is handsome, thin and fey, with shoulder-length hair and a black-and-red beard that make him look a little like Jesus Christ or Che Guevara. Yet, when he opens his mouth, another figure comes to mind: He sounds like a slightly crazed Billie Holiday. This is but one of the incongruities that define him. The story of his debut album - the wordily titled "Oh Me Oh My ... The Way The Day Goes By The Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs Of The Christmas Spirit" (Young God Records) - would be a neat bit of......
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The Angels of Light | Everything is Good Here/Please Come Home
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Splendid | by Ron DaviesA treasure that grows more precious with each listenThis is a beautiful album. On the surface, it can be surprisingly simple -- strummed acoustic guitar, unadorned piano and straightforward vocals form the bulk of the music. But in the hands of Michael Gira, few things are as simple as they initially appear. Best known for his work with the now-defunct Swans, Gira spins his musical webs with all the literary craftsmanship of a skilled author. Seemingly straightforward songs stand knee deep in crosscurrents that will sweep you away if given half a chance. Take, for example, the opening track, "Palisades". A beeping tone is a cry for help within a framework of delicate piano and soft, tinkling wind chimes. Gira's rich baritone the caresses the melody until a thick bass drum and strumming guitars begin to sound. The buildup gives way to silence, after which Gira is joined by a chanting chorus. It all sounds simple because at its heart, it's just a vocal and piano accompaniment -- but by adding the additional elements in such a deft manner, Gira raises the song's impact, creating something unmistakably grand. This trick is repeated throughout the disc. "All......
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ANGELS OF LIGHT | Everything Is Good Here | Review
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Creative Loafing | J. EDWARD KEYES riveting from start to finish For the better part of the '80s and '90s, Michael Gira was one of two principle personas (Jarboe was the other) behind the Swans, the New York/Atlanta noise ensemble that spent its lifespan mining the awful depths of human cruelty. He hasn't strayed too far from that path with Angels of Light. The group's fifth record is a brutal, unyielding exercise in terror and dread. Angels of Light actually do what all of those ridiculous post-grunge bands talk about doing -- namely, they punish you with sound. "All Souls' Rising" is constructed around a single merciless chord pattern that snarls and stomps for a full six minutes as Gira howls and grunts and stalks the edges of the song like a serial killer. It's like The Birthday Party, but darker. Even the ostensibly relaxed "Kosinski" builds to a fever pitch. The thing that makes the Angels' songs so dense is the fact that they are all verse. Gira is an expert in stretching a single musical idea to its breaking point, grinding out the same series of notes until he's walloped every last possibility out of them. Instead of......