Deleyaman
Fourth, Part One
Deleyaman are a four piece french-american band based in Normandy, France. This is a diverse group of musicians and each adds his/her own style to the band's sound. The music on Fourth, Part One has been described as darkwave. This is mellow stuff blending ambient, folk, Eastern and classical elements. The band definitely takes a minimalistic approach to songwriting and they are very good at what they do. The album has a nice flow with most of the songs having soft layers of keyboards, introspective guitar and soft percussions giving this music an ethereal quality. The addition of the duduk, a traditional woodwind instrument of Armenian origin, adds an exotic touch to many of these songs. The duduk has been around for hundreds of years and its ancient and mournful sound permeates the music of Deleyaman. The vocals of Valantin are quite pleasant as her angelic voice has a fragile beauty and contrasts nicely with the deeper mournful voice of Aret Madilian. Both voices are ideally suited for the band's pastoral style of music. Whether it's the short and somber "Somehow" with the duduk providing an Indian motif or the dreamy soundscapes of "Book Of Change", the heavier sounding "Temples" boasting fuzzy psychedelic guitar riffs or the moody "Traffic Lights" where the exotic sounds of the duduk and the lovely acoustic guitar intermingling with the brooding vocals of Madilian, the songs of this album should be listened to uninterrupted from beginning to end. Music in the vein of bands like Dead Can Dance or Enigma. If you need an album to chill out to this may be the one.