01. Waiting For A Voice
02. Ocean Song
03. This Isolation
04. Has Anybody Seen My Love
05. Dark Star
06. I Asked For Nothing
07. Time (Just Before The Light Got In)
08. Disappear
09. Soon It Will Be Morning
10. Heroes (David Bowie cover)
11. Awake
12. Icicles
Ashton Nyte is a busy guy. When he's not working with other artists, such as MGT and Beauty in Chaos, he's putting out albums as The Awakening and also under his own name. It could be argued that both are solo projects, but The Awakening moniker tends to be for the more Gothic Rock side of his output.
His 2018 album, Chasm, released as The Awakening (read my review here), was one in my top 5 albums of that year (click for the list). Pretty much everything Ashton is involved with is superb, so naturally I've been looking forward to giving Waiting For A Voice a listen.
Having recently toured extensively as a one-man acoustic solo act supporting The Mission's Wayne Hussey, Waiting For A Voice appears to be the spawn of that approach. Most of the album is acoustic, which is normally something I wouldn't be into, as few artists can pull off a full record like this without boring me to death. Fortunately, Ashton is a truly great song writer and there's so much depth and character to his work, it's impossible not to be captivated.
Waiting for a Voice is another fantastic album from Ashton. It's full of atmosphere, emotion, intensity, and subtlety. The songs all feel very personal and refined, like a musical equivalent of drinking wine in the moonlight, contemplating life, the universe and everything. Sometimes, it's nice to not have the amps turned up to eleven!
It's hard to pick favourites from an album that is not only very strong, but is crafted with songs that all complement each other as part of a perfect piece.
Awake is really dark, entwining electronica and a creepy piano with the guitars. It reminds me a little of mid-nineties Nine Inch Nails, but more subtle and, dare I say, mature. I could imagine this track in an apocalyptic Hollywood movie.
Obviously, Ashton's cover of Heroes is amazing. It's a great song to begin with, but this version has a magic all of it's own. It's powerful, emotive, and simply wonderful.
I also love the swagger of Dark Star. It'd make a great music video too!
I'm sure my favourites will change time and time again, as is the case with albums like this. There's always something new to pick up on with each listen.
No comments
Post a Comment