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[one_half last=”yes”]ARCHIVE
Restriction
Release-Date: 09.01.2014
Label: [PIAS]
Tracklist:
01. Feel It
02. Restriction
03. Kid Corner
04. End Of Our Days
05. Third Quarter Storm
06. Half Built Houses
07. Ride In Squares
08. Ruination
09. Crushed
10. Black & Blue
11. Greater Goodbye
12. Ladders
NBHAP Rating: 4/5
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And the journey goes on…
ARCHIVE is surely no band to linger about, for they are dropping a new album only nine months after Axiom, their grand dystopian opus, with clearly no decrease in quality. Their tenth output is only another proof of creativeness and diligence, as it follows the aim to be ‘[…] an album with 12 individual and distinct songs, all coming from a similar place but at the same time musically diverse and unique’ as Co-founder Darius Keeler says. The attempt is being mastered by the use of alternating singers and dynamic waves from prog to balladesque, aggressive to tender, energetic to fragile. Opposing sound patterns as in Restriction and Third Quarter Storm surge the melodious sea. No rest for neither the creators nor their lambs.
Visualization in full mastery
In order to give their listeners a better picture of the full scope of the album, the band released three singles simultaneously, each of them very strong and individual tracks, coming along with super punchy videos. The expressive character of their songs has always been a main feature of their music, and the moving images only deepens its intensity. The hymnal Black And Blue is covered in a haunting and touching setting, letting singer Holly Martin appear angelic and broken like PORTISHEAD‘s Beth Gibbons in Roads. Simply beautiful. A new red backdrop emphasizes the energy of Feel It, featuring a cool and sexy Dave Pen alongside flashing images of skin being stitched with needles and twine. Intense! Another great moment is the expressive Kid Corner, focussing on the explosive topic of children with firearms. It’s even more disturbing for the fey nature of the female singing voice. ARCHIVE manage to create true audio-visual fireworks!
There’s more to it than meets the eye
ARCHIVE will be touring Europe and the UK throughout 2015 with the first gig of the tour kicking off in Amsterdam on February 20th. This tour promises to be the band’s biggest and most ambitious live production to date, for it will feature the screening of the Axiom film before the their actual live set each night! Sounds like a pretty good deal, especially when Keeler points out that ARCHIVE has tried to make each tour unique and special, thinking they’ve set the bar high this time and that he really can’t wait to get out there and take the new show to the fans.
With ‘Restriction’, South London collective ARCHIVE demonstrates its artistic vigor anew and merit a leading position at once.
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