Azure Ray

November (Saddle Creek)
by Scott Hefflon

If you’re the type to eat up wildly-overhyped indie bands and believe every fawning shitheel who gushes mindlessly just so they can continue getting free CDs, you’ve already read plenty of hollow reviews about how sweet this EP is. It’s gorgeous, heartbreaking, and breathily powerful, a hushed voice whispering in your ear as a vise tightens elsewhere. In a mere six songs, Azure Ray will remind you of beautiful hippie chicks wearing only flowers in their hair, or the soft caress of angel’s fingertips on your skin at dawn. Acoustic guitars (not nearly as passive as they sound, there’s a potentially window-shaking hum to the bass) and various non-symphonic stringed instruments accompany the immediate, breathy speaky vocals (no Minnie/Miriah squealing here, thanks) in the gently breathing, open arrangements. Good for sky-gazing or sitting alone in an empty room or sharing those quiet moments with someone close who knows when words mean you’re thinking too much. A good compliment to Rasputina, the quietude of NIN, and the darker side of Mary Lou Lord.
(PO Box 8554 Omaha, NE 68108)