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Album Details

• Artist: Vailhalen
• Album: Becs D'oiseaux
• Label: Chicken Wire / Saved By Radio
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2004-12-02

Chris Vail is a singer/songwriter from Calgary, Alberta and he has rounded up 7 people to form his band titled Vailhalen. Even being from Calgary, I have never heard Vailhalen so I came into this album unbeknownst to what expect. The music is very dark and quite diverse, especially for an EP. The album starts out with my favorite track "Spit In The Mouth". It has a bit of a Pete Yorn feel to it without getting to commercial. The production is sweet with the layered vocals. "Was It A Fix" kicks it up a notch and presents us with the most rambunctious song on the set. It's got a cool guitar riff that doesn't really go anywhere but it is still very interesting. "Moodkiller" is definitely that. It is the darkest song on the album with minor tones floating throughout. Vailhalen pick things up again with "The Synth is Speaking", it is the second best track on Becs D'oiseux (I still can't figure out the translation). This track is very poppy and fairly upbeat. Chris' voice sounds suited towards this one. The horns add quite a nice touch too. The closing track "Good" was anything but. It's one of those noisefests that are more self indulgent than anything. For an introduction to Vailhalen, I felt that it gave me a good idea on what Chris Vail and company can deliver. I think there is some maturation that will happen and we should see some good things from this group.

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