harmonodromous

music unknown to you

• Home
• About

?Without music, life would be a mistake.?

~Friedrich Nietzsche, in Götzen-Dämmerung (Twilight of the Idols)

• Subscribe

  

• Categories

  • music
    • indie

• Archives

  • June 2009

• Blogroll

  • Development Blog
  • Documentation
  • Plugins
  • Suggest Ideas
  • Support Forum
  • Themes
  • WordPress Planet

• Admin

  • Log in
  • WordPress
  • XHTML

Cacie Dalager and Brad Hale are the two members of Now, Now Every Children and bring together laid back vocals with powerful rock instrumentals to back them. I first heard excerpts from this album on Radio K many months ago and found myself humming the opening track, “Not One, But Two” that you can hear a sample of here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

That is from the opening track where the song slowly builds and builds until the explosion of guitars and drums that you hear. The vocals remain relatively laid back despite the strange contrast they have with the crashing drums and guitar. Where a normal rock song would have top of the lungs screaming vocals at this point, the lyrics of Dalager are tepid and eerie. It’s both welcomed and refreshing to what you find on the radio although a few other tracks rely on slowly building up to a great riff or explosion of sound. That’s not all that’s on the album, a lot of the songs are soft pieces almost like ballads with long backing tones. For example, listen to a piece of the third track “Have You Tried”:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This track’s use of an organ in the background and beating drums are perfect for Dalager’s vocals and is one of the many tracks I found myself humming after listening to this album over and over and over. The use of organ, bells and piano on this album really make it enjoyable and — in my mind — give it a lot of staying power in my rotation. Here is a clip of just instrumentals from the fifth track “Friends with My Sister”:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It’s not often that I find myself so in love with listening to an entire album of songs that I can listen to it through and through. Now, Now Every Children’s Cars is a great album that I would recommend to anyone that likes laid back music like Snow Patrol or Fiest. Now, Now Every Children has definitely established a particular sound that is great and leaves me wanting more and I cannot wait to hear new albums and work from them. Hopefully they begin to experiment more with other instruments and moods to Dalager’s vocals. You’re not going to hear any poppy happy songs on this album but what you will find is upbeat songs like “Everyone You Know” interlaced with tracks of great crescendos and melodies that will leave you humming for weeks.

Release Date: February 10, 2009
Rating: 8/10

You can listen to three full tracks and purchase the album from Afternoon Records for $12 as a CD or $9 in MP3 format from Amazon. The best part about it? It’s independent music from Afternoon Records.