Neutral — Serpents In The Dawn
Neutral are a two piece project featuring Ash who handles Vocals, 12 string guitars, synths & E. Voronovsky who handles violins & piano, there are also some nice flute and other rich instrumental textures here too, as well as female singing on a few tracks too. The air is always tinged with a feeling of loss and regret portrayed in an often up-beat & rich instrumental manner, having quite a feeling of 70’s folk/ pop with touches of light prog elements here & there. Ash’s vocals often have quite a deep tone about them settling somewhere around Michael Gira, Leonard Cohen type territory, but having there own quite distinctive European tone about them. The albums artwork pictures of rust and decaying buildings fits the albums tone perfectly, with each of the 8 tracks been memorable in thier own right. Though there’s not an awful lot of experimentation or risks taken here, it's rewarding never the less- these are just simply beautiful sombre pop songs.
A highly enjoyable album of downcast pop folk rich with atmospheric string embellishments, sombre deep distinctive vocals and beautiful composed tuneful songs.