Monday, January 23, 2017

Album Review: Rainbrother - Tales From the Drought


Rainbrother's upcoming album, "Tales From the Drought," isn't just music - it's a musical experience.

Rainbrother is fronted by the former frontman for The Migrant - Bjarke Bendtsen - and the sound is both new and familiar all at once.

The vast expanse of musical influences are impossible to categorize, but the first half of the album's strongest musical influence almost sounds like it's Ennio Morrocone. (Yes, that Ennio Morricone.) I'd say that listening to the opening track - "Riverside" - sounds much like what I'd think the first movement of an indie symphony would be.



It's weird to call this a departure from the psychedelic folk rock of The Migrant: though it's different, there's a common thread that you can hear running through it, especially when you get to the second song on the album, "East African Dream." This song somehow sounds like The Shins, but with its own twist on its vocals.

The album goes back and forth between soaring instrumentals and poignant verses, and while the opener is my favorite, the energetic track "Break Out" is one of my new go to work out songs... even before I saw the video:


The mellow "Crow" and the upbeat "Juggler" also help round out the album. The final song - "The Sun" - clocking in at a similar length to the opener (about seven and a half minutes long) has beautiful vocals that compliment the instrumentals that helped to open the album.

I've had this album for nearly a month, and each song has at least 30 plays. I can listen to it no matter what my mood, and as I've stated before about my old-man preference for "back-in-the-day," it's not just a collection of songs: it's a great album.

It has shades of Ennio Morricone, I have a new workout song, and every single song is awesome and musically eclectic.

You can find out more about Rainbrother here. They're touring Europe in February, and they'll be in the US at SXSW in March!

You can see more of their music here: Soundcloud | YouTube

You can pre-order the album here: Bandcamp

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