Hi everyone – first time poster (but long-time reader!)
For the occasion, I wanted to share a recent discovery: Norwegian orchestral (pop?) prog band Meer, and their album “Playing house”. I think I saw a post about this in the What are you listening to thread, but nothing more. They pretty much came out of nowhere (at least as far as I am concerned), and the album is one of my favorites of the year so far. Certainly the biggest surprise!
Really interesting, warm sound, with tasteful orchestration/arrangements, great melodies and fantastic songs. Two main singers, female and male. LOVE her voice. The vocal interplay does remind me of early Pure Reason Revolution at times, but there is much more variety here. First and last track are a bit “proggier”. The chorus in the opener, “Picking up the pieces”, is goosebump-worthy. The final chorus especially, as the voices harmonize and soar. Probably my favorite song on the album. The closer, “Lay it down”, has an instrumental section towards the end that almost sounds like Pain of Salvation.
“Beehive” is another great song, with especially strong vocals, and so is “Honey”. Some other tracks have an indie-pop flavor to them (e.g. Across the ocean). Then there’s something like “You were a drum”, that somehow almost starts like Tears for Fears’ “Working hour”, before turning into something Beth Orton could sing…
Anyway – I’ll stop here
Bottom line for me: brilliant album, easy to like but also full of interesting twists and turns. Curious to hear if any of you in this fine music community has had a chance to give it a listen…
Beehive's official video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54uzhgceNZs
Topic: Meer - Playing House (2021) (Read 1681 times)