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Leonardo Rosado/Birds of Passage - Dear and Unfamiliar

posted by: maurice on 25 September 2011

Denovali

Alicia Merz from Birds of Passage has recorded a cinematic concept album together with Leonardo Rosado from Portugal. It is a good choice to work together with Rosado because the dark minimalistic pop music is even better worked than on the debut 'Without the World'. It makes 'Dear and Unfamiliar' easier to digest and more interesting to hear.

Leonardo Rosado assists Alicia Merz in her ride to a dark and mystic landscape. With hints to Jonsi and Zola Jesus the duo shows us a lot of desolate moments. The man from Portugal has a much broader palette of sounds than Merz had on her debut album. For example, the oddly chosen piano tunes and haunting noises in closer “Endings and Beginnings” certainly weren’t present on the first album. The combination of her beautiful fragile voice and the electronic ambient tunes feels like a lonely journey on a warm night in the moorlands.

Birds of Passage’s next album and a collaboration with Aidan Baker are already in the works and if the new songs are as good as “Your Lullabies” and “I wonder if You Sing it Now” (including piano sounds!) I am looking forward to these records. Let’s hope Alicia Merz doesn’t overestimate herself because in music "quality before quantity" is a golden rule.

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