A Whisper In The Noise "As the Bluebird Sings" (Transdreamer)
By Peter A. Holden
Wednesday. May 03, 12:02 AM
What the shadows of our childhood past sound like.

Without caution, you can sometimes be completely lost in a moment. Carefree behavior is as important to the human spirit as carefulness. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and both can sting quite a bit. Although different approaches to running your life, they always result in the same outcome: emotional growth from experience. A Whisper In The Noise’s album As the Bluebird Sings, to me, evokes the emotional growth that we take away from our experiences. It bears shades of the carefree and shades of the careful, but mostly it’s a trip along the road of introspection that succeeds every emotional event.

What makes this album so captivating is the deep compulsion and heart-wrenching solemnity of its melodies. “Hell’s Half Acre” is a melancholy, dark, and sinister warning. A brooding piano line, angelic but frail female vocals, and the bareness of the atmosphere where it all reverberates is your backdrop. It’s an icy, slightly Wagnerian tune that just might make you cry. In contrast, “Until the Time it’s Over” is a bit more of a sullen grub and grog pub tune. Picture drunken pirates swaying their glasses to and fro and singing their hearts out in unison, only there’s an orchestra and the pirates can mostly sing in key. But you get the idea. Again, there is a mood of gravity, but this track is much more of a resigned “such is life” and “we’ll have to move along anyhow.”

Even though a somber mood carries through the whole album, As the Bluebird Sings still contains an enormous variety and depth that examines the many facets of just one emotion. Slow and fast aren’t the only aspects that make something varied. It’s really a testament to their craft that A Whisper In The Noise have written an album that fully fleshes out the depth of sadness and darkness. Although possibly not their initial intent, it is definitely clear that they’ve achieved that affect. Most noteworthy, songwriter West Thordson wrote all the songs in his home. Why is that noteworthy? Well, because he lives in an abandoned elementary school. This is a reflection record, one that allows us to look at our past: even our childhood. In a Danny Elfman / Tim Burton kind of fashion, musically this album conjures up the innocent fears we had as kids: when things were simpler and you were afraid of the dark because there were monsters under the bed; when sadness was because the family dog died and we lost our favorite teddy bear. Listen to this record and you will see what the shadows of our childhood past sound like. It’s a painful tug at your heart.
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Peter A. Holden

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