Reviews

My cousin has a really beautiful voice. When we would sing along to the radio, her voice was better than the one coming out of the speakers. She would constantly recommend CDs to me because the singer was amazing. I'd normally listen to them and agree, yeah, the singer is real talented, but so what? She didn't get my complaint. For her, a great vocalist could make an album great. For me, well, I don't care. Hence my trouble in fairly reviewing Awake and Alert.

Lead singer Maya Peart's vocals drive Devil in a Lambskin Suit, the band's second full-length; save one song, there's hardly a moment she doesn't sing over. But she does have a beautiful voice, and she knows how to use it. Sometimes her voice powerfully pushes the music forward and sometimes it lies back and floats along.

Peart's voice drifts over the first track, "Flight." A jangling, wind chime guitar and slow, dragging dashes of piano enter next. Here, Peart's powerful, but airy delivery works in synchronization with the light, lilting song.

Conversely, on the title track, as the music moves from subdued to (relatively) loud, Pert's voice leads the charge, changing with the dynamic of the song. Throughout the album, the band complements Peart's vocal delivery. Although she is the primarily the focus, she doesn't dominate the songs-occasionally the band shines. The jazz-inspired guitar sections on "Flight" and "Let Autumn Lift Me" add a little flavor to the even, contained sound of the album.

"Hollow Bodies" is the only instrumental track on the album. It has an dark, yet energetic feel, similar to "Go To Sleep" by Radiohead, particularly in the introduction. The track feels very isolated though, because the vocals are so omnipresent, to hear a track without them almost sounds like something's wrong with my speakers and I'm not getting the vocal part of the mix.

As a whole, I wouldn't say Devil in a Lambskin Suit is uneven, but it lacks a certain cohesiveness. The songs often go back and forth between dream pop and subdued alterna-rock. I kept expecting the album to build to an emotional peak, but it never quite got there. It kept switching from fast to slow, which caused the album to lose momentum.

Ultimately, this is a pretty album, with pretty music and a pretty voice. If you love hearing angelic, indie-rock crooners, then I would highly recommend this. I recommended it to my cousin, because I'm sure she'll feel passionately about it. Unfortunately, I really don't.