Artist: Misery
Title: Aesthetics
Genre: Electro
Release Date: 3rd February 2012
Label: Independent
Album Review
MISERY was started by Alain ter Shuur and his brother, who later left the band, with another band member change, the band now comprises of Alain and Maarten Pels behind synths and Lis van den Akker as their vocalist. They’re no strangers to stages of festival, or gigs for that matter. Few albums later they are releasing ‘Aesthetics’.
The album comprises of club-friendly songs, catchy and intricate at the same time, lyrically speaking about the relatable travails of life. The feel is of old school electro mixed with modern elements and it makes for an interesting mixture. The first song ‘Equilibrium’ had a heavy use of vocoder, which should have been maybe a little bit lighter to offer contrast. ‘Left Me Crying’ from being a pretty danceable song, had some great atmosphere, darker and moodier. ‘Give It A Moment’ was another song to rest attention more with good, engaging beat & rhythm; it’s a wonderfully intense song. ‘Dark at July’ had a cool dark atmosphere with an added aggression within the instrumental parts and male additional vocals nicely contrasted with Akker’s. Unfortunately for the album, the production seems a tad lacking. The lack of clarity doesn’t really give it a raw and dirty edge, but dampens it down and makes it sound a very short way from sounding amateurish. A bigger attention to detail and leaving out the fillers would also improve on the impression.
Many people will do anything to anesthetise or just simply do anything but to feel misery. But when it comes to this MISERY - there is no need to avoid it at any cost, give it a listen though I can’t say it would have got me really enthusiastic to go further than that, as in buy it and play it often, and if I was in a club or live I wouldn’t have thought it striking.
Tracklist
01. Equilibrium
02. On Your Knees
03. Left Me Crying
04. Starlight
05. Virtual Language
06. Over and Out
07. Burned
08. Rotten Flowers
09. Shallow Water
10. Give It a Moment
11. Cold Heart
12. Dark at July
13. Robot
14. The Course
Line-up
Lis van den Akker – vocals, lyrics
Alain ter Schuur – programming, synths, guitar, vocoder
Maarten Pels – programming, synths
Websites
www.misery.nu / http://www.myspace.com/miseryelectro
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 6
Sound: 5
Total: 6.5 / 10
