An album that could have been the soundtrack of the homonymous 1954 thriller by Mick Eaton… or not
It’s great to listen to new albums by new artists but it is equally great to listen to new albums by favourite musicians, it’s like ‘meeting’ an old friend. ‘The Fellow Traveller‘ is the title of the latest album by The Frozen Autumn, that was released a few days ago through Echozone in Europe and Metropolis in North America. It is fair to say that this album is the most inspired that the band has released in years. New elements have been incorporated making the sound infinitely richer than their previous album ‘Chirality’ and the visuals that accompany the album, from the cover to the recently released video clip for ‘Tomorrow’s Life’, intriguing and aesthetically inspired to say the least. New subjects have been explored in the album which is evident from the song titles and the lyrics. Architectural references can also be identified in the visuals (i.e. cover, video clip), something that I personally find both fascinating and really fitting with the music and the overall style of the band.
‘The Fellow Traveller’ starts with ‘Tomorrow’s Life’, ‘White On White’ and ‘We’ll Fly Away’, three songs that make the connection with previous releases in terms of style and rhythms. Diego and Froxeanne alternate their position in the vocals throughout the album, an approach that they also adopt during their live shows. This album unveils its secrets after ‘We’ll Fly Away’ as the rhythms are starting to reveal their different reference points, at times by highlighting their electro industrial elements (i.e. ‘Grey Metal Wings’,’I Love You But I’ve Chosen SYnthesizers’), and other times by making more prominent, their references to early 1980s synthpop music (the first beats of ‘White On White’ actually bring to mind Visage’s ‘Fade to Grey’, the higher notes in ‘A Gentle Flame’ bring to mind the music of Duran Duran). ‘Told You At Once’ is a song with many dimensions and a very cinematic atmosphere. The band has craftily layered the vocals, using a small delay, creating an actual sonic kaleidoscope. We listen to a similar layering of the vocals later in ‘Sirens and Stargazers‘. It is a true pleasure, to listen to ‘A Gentle Flame’ as this is one of the few and precious occasions (as in ‘So Brave’, ‘Sidereal Solitude’, ‘Nouvelle Vague’ and other older songs) where Froxeanne holds long notes and really shows off her admirable vocals. Listening to this song together with ‘I Love You But I’ve Chosen Synthesizers’, brought to mind the sound of the band’s side project Static Movement. All 11 songs offer glimpses into the band’s inspirational delirium while writing the music. If you isolate the melodies of ‘Sirens and Stargazers’ I am sure you will agree that they share qualities with both the dreamy soundscapes of Jean Michel Jarre and Dr Who’s original soundtrack.A fascination with space music has always played a key role in the music of The Frozen Autumn.By now, you should be totally immersed in the album’s atmosphere and have probably re-listened a few of the songs.
The song that marks the beginning of the end of this album, ‘The Twin Planet’, is one of my favourite ones and has constantly grown on me every time I have listened to it. I loved the addition of an addictive whistling of the chorus’ rhythm which is also replacing the vocals at that point. On top of that, there are a few moments here and there within the song, where Froxeanne’s voice has been injected between the verses that Diego sings, creating a cinematic atmosphere similar to that of the soundtrack of a horror film. I have found these ‘gestures’ to be moments of brilliance and true inspiration, I loved them, because even though they are made in a discreet way, they have a significantly positive impact on the atmosphere of the song and make its performance richer! This was the moment, where all the other small additions in the album’s music, formed ‘the big picture’, that of a band that took their music a few steps further, creating their most beautiful album in a few years by enhancing and evolving all the already strong elements in their music.
Epilog
I love a great sense of humour in bands and I especially enjoy it when this is expressed in discreet and creative ways. The Frozen Autumn are less bitter in their lyrics this time with the exception of ‘Told You At Once’ and the synth melodies feel ‘lighter’ in mood. They have also made space for a little humour in the title of one of the last songs of the album, ‘I Love You But I’ve Chosen Synthesizers’. David Bowie’s beautiful cover of ‘Loving The Alien’ closes the album in an ideal way, as the band makes homage to this charismatic artist, still missed greatly from our lives, that has inspired people in many levels.
Finally, on what concerns the visuals that accompany this album, the video clip of ‘Tomorrow’s Life’ that was filmed in Turin by Giorgio Ricci, continues the theme that the album’s cover has started with the photo of Diego looking out from the window of a tall building. The lyrics are some sort of a personal confession of one person to another but there is playfulness in all of this, an aspect that is more evident in the video. First of all we see all those little objects, symbols really, that Diego and Froxeanne use to channel all the emotions that the lyrics describe. Then the architectural aspect of the album comes into play as nicely filmed modern movement inspired building lines, form the backdrop of the video. Compared to older videos that the band has produced, I think that this is the most cinematic of all.
The Frozen Autumn have created a beautiful album, parts of which, we hope that will find a place in the dance floors. In any case, listening to this album and identifying its cinematic qualities certainly make a very good case for the recreation of Mick Eaton’s film ‘Fellow Traveller’.
The Frozen Autumn will be offering live shows to audiences in Italy (25/11/17) and Russia (2/12/17).You can buy ‘The Fellow Traveller’ from here: http://thefrozenautumn.bigcartel.com/product/the-frozen-autumn-chirality-cd
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