Velour 100

Item: Fall Sounds
Author: Jason Morehead

Fall Sounds

(1996)

Reviewed by Jason Morehead

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Label Tooth & Nail RecordsOpus2000

ambient dream pop folk shoegaze

Originally published at Opus

Some of you may recognize the name Trey Many, the songwriter and main musician of Velour 100. He's the drummer for His Name Is Alive, a group that's known for its bizarre experimental pop music. Hints of His Name Is Alive can be seen throughout this album; it's even recorded by Warren Defever. However, Velour 100 takes a different path than HNIA. It's hard to specifically name it, other than call it "indie" or "pop" or something like that. But it doesn't really fall into those categories.

Fall Sounds begins with "Stare Into Light" and "Autumn Shelter," two tracks that remind me of groups like Sixpence None The Richer. However, after that, "Fall Sounds" takes its own path. "Breeze" is a beautiful ambient piece, with soft, twinkling piano melodies evoking falling rain. Soft A.M. radio transmissions occasionally rise out of the mix, adding a haunting air to the music. I guess that's the best way to describe Velour 100. Their songs are very moody and evocative. Fall Sounds is the perfect name for this album, because the music somehow conjures up images of falling leaves, grey skies, and beautiful sunsets. The album closes off with "Dub Space," a beautiful piece of ambient guitars and noises that just hover and mingle around you, until it all ends in noise. Very cool.

Most of the lyrics read like pages from a diary, about personal struggles and hopes for something better. On "Fall Sounds," vocalist Amon Krist's winsome, ethereal vocals are simply beautiful and add to the melancholy air of this music. On "Joy," her trembling vocals fit perfectly with the humble mood of the song. Her voice is perfectly suited to singing with the soft, acoustic numbers as well as the faster, more upbeat numbers.

Each track has a little experimentation added to it, a little nuance. Many gets some really good sounds from his guitar, adding airy, spiralling passages to the song. Sometimes, the noises remind me of Flying Saucer Attack. Sometimes, they even remind me of some of Pink Floyd's stuff. I don't know of many other Christian artists who use noise in this manner.

It's funny, but no one track leaps out at me, except for some of the experimental pieces, since they add a little more dimension to the album. However, there's not a single bad track on the entire album; I enjoy them all quite a bit. I'd be hard-pressed to pick out just a few highlights. Rather, this is an album that you need to sit down and listen to all the way through. Maybe it's the fact that all of the tracks are mixed into each other, so that each song leads into the next. Normally, I don't like that sort of thing, but on Fall Sounds, I think it works really well. It adds to the cohesiveness, the way the album melds together as a whole.

It's really hard to put my finger on this album. I could simply say that it's good, but that wouldn't leave any explanation. If you're into stuff like Sixpence, or a mellower Ivy, I recommend this album. Fall Sounds is something you'd play on a long cross-country trip, or something like that. It's got a great blend of folk, pop, indie music, and even ambient/experimental stuff. The best thing about it is how well it all flows together.