The Deal: Charlotte’s Angwish – the duo Bryan Bielanski and Rachael Malmberg – release fourth full-length album, Into the Void, on April 30, 2010. Album is produced by Rob Tavaglione at Catalyst Recording.
The Good: Formerly a trio, the band is now moving forward as a duo, savoring their indie-pop and rock sensibilities. While the songwriting – lyrically and musically – has matured, the band has also continued its harmonic approach to the vocals. Harmonies spark some depth to the sound and vocals are also layered to provide a good male/female sonic dichotomy throughout the 13 tracks. The music style shows the broad range of influences – “Beautiful Place” and “Hello Katie” border on something grunge-esque, “Cat Song” and “Not Interested” lean punk, “Clone You” is dark and almost metal, while the indie-pop of the title track ends in a frenzy of feedback.
The Bad: No complaints. I don’t think the band’s going for prim, proper or polished here. It’s got the raw edge that you’d expect to see in their live show.
The Verdict: I’m not quite sure – with the variety of styles evident here – that the band has yet found “themselves” on the musical landscape, but sometimes the journey you take getting there is the most fun.
This article appears in May 11-17, 2010.
