A year after resurfacing into memory with Detrola and with eyes set firmly on the next step, XMMER, His Name Is Alive present four new songs exclusively through Spanish record label Acuarela, recorded in their living room in Livonia, Michigan. Firefly Dragonfly is a laid-back, acoustic mannered pitstop for the quixotic North-American band. Firefly Dragonfly contains a warm atmosphere, an undiscovered guise of His Name Is Alive, an intimate side. Listening to this half hour unveils a single live recording session, the testimony of an encounter between Defever and a bunch of friends under the directive set by acoustic guitar and piano. This mini-album opens softly with a cover of Sufjan Stevens' The Dress Looks Nice On You baptized here as I Can See A Lot Of Light In You. It's an imagined vision of the Stevens original, imbued here by Andy FM's subtle accent, with much sparser & simpler arrangements, with no banjo. Come Out The Wilderness begins with what sounds like an acoustic variation of Neu!, lain over harp frills, to then evolve into reflection of a traditional folk song. There's Something Between Us And He's changing My Words appeared on Home Is In Your Head (4AD, 1991), His Name Is Alive's second record, and what was a studio experiment smoothly becomes a campfire song with Jessica Bailiff's vocals and under the cloak of a harmonium. It's a delicate song, with a feeling of uncertainty surrounding all of it, entangling each chord. After it, what was one day meant as a tribute to Alice Coltrane appears here in the form of a beautiful fourteen-minute duet between piano and harp, flowing freely until the end of the record. Mini-album (4 tracks/ 31 minutes).
credits
released September 24, 2007
andry fm vocals piano
war guitar piano
chilali harp
erik hall guitar bell
jessica bailiff acoustic guitar
zach wallace double bass
jesse edwards guitar bells
hitoko sakai shruti box
Warren Michael Defever SUNSHIP an album that has neither song titles, vocals, melodies, beats or chord changes. One of the Detroit Metro Times top picks of the year File under New Age / Meditation His Name Is Alive
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