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Chaos and the Cosmos — Our Song
(Bandcamp no#, 2023, DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-04-13

Our Song Cover art

The debut album from Seattle’s Chaos and the Cosmos presents them in a stylistic space that is not very highly populated. Much of the music is built up from Paul Langer’s strumming acoustic guitar and pleasant voice, and that is embellished in a variety of ways by the keyboards of John Allday and a string trio consisting of Rachel Nesvig (violin), Aleida Gehrels (viola), and Phil Hirschi (cello); everyone except Hirschi also contributes backing vocals at times, and Langer also plays bass, drums, and electric guitar. The melodies are memorable, and there’s a light touch to everything, with no rough edges or dissonant intensity. That’s not to say that the music is without interest — far from it. The strings are used to great effect, with arrangements by Langer and Allday, and all of the pieces are put together very nicely, flowing from section to section with enough changes to keep listeners engaged. Allday’s keyboards often provide ethereal sounds that hint at celestial realms, which fits in with the science-fictional themes of the lyrics. As far as stylistic references, I can easily think of The Moody Blues, Barclay James Harvest, and The Enid, along with Renaissance (though with male vocals) and touches of Pink Floyd and The Flaming Lips. The band has been in existence for a number of years, honing this material through various iterations (some of which are documented on Youtube), and the refinement shows in the quality of the result. This is a fine debut album, and holds great promise for even better music to come. In short, while there’s not much chaos in Chaos and the Cosmos, there is a healthy dash of the cosmic, and the result is some excellent music.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Chaos and the Cosmos

More info
http://chaosandthecosmos.bandcamp.com/album/our-song

 

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