Dead Heart Bloom – In Chains Review
Here we are, down to the last installment of New York’s Dead Heart Bloom’s three part EP series. This one is called In Chains, and was released in December. This EP has gotten really good critical reviews, and has even jump-started a chain reaction (no pun intended) of success, like being a featured artist on The Frontloader and being nominated on The Deli Magazine for Artist of the Month.
In Chains has to be my favourite out of all three EPs, and mainly because there is a strong focus of folk in their music. It’s mostly acoustic guitar-driven with a Western movie sort of appeal to it. And it’s even fitting as bar music as it’s saturated with an intensely intimate feeling to it.
Not only do I love it for its musical aspect, lyrically I think it is the strongest of all EPs. Take a listen to “Flash in a Bottle” and you’ll know what I mean. They are natural storytellers who use a touch of the folksy flavour to their lyrics, so intimately told and performed it almost makes me cry.
The instrumentation, as usual, is awesome. It’s composed and produced well, and you can definitely see improvement from the first EP. It’s easier to distinguish different sounds on this EP, too, perhaps due in part to the fact that it’s a folk album. Even if it protrudes as a folk EP, it draws on many different influences like blues, jazz, and gospel/soul. I like that they also switch up the vocals (like the last EP, Oh Mercy). I guess there isn’t much difference about what I’ve said about the overall band previously through my other reviews (Fall In and Oh Mercy). I still think that Boris’s tenor voice sounds a little weird in context, but it’s something I’ve gotten used to listening to the EPs over and over again. They do make a strong duet when harmonizing like in “Farther Than You,” however. It’s a powerful tune with both voices combined.
Overall, the EPs are a fantastic trio. And it’s almost like we’ve journeyed along with Dead Heart Bloom from the way back Fall In (or even earlier if you’ve gotten to their previous releases), watching them grow and bloom into something not similar to dead hearts in In Chains. All of their music can be downloaded for free on their official website here, but I’d suggest getting all three physical copies because the covers look wicked put together side-by-side.
By the way, if you’re in Washington, D.C. on the 25th, Dead Heart Bloom are performing live to film a music video. Check out here for more details on how to participate.
MP3s:
Dead Heart Bloom – Flash in a Bottle
Dead Heart Bloom – Farther Than You
Tags: EP
