Riverside - Out Of Myself

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Riverside - Out Of Myself

Artist:	Riverside
Title:	Out Of Myself
Label:	The Lasers Edge LE1039
Length(s):	53 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2004
Month of review:	[03/2005]

Line up

Mariusz Duda - vocals, bass, acoustig guitar
Piotr Grudzinski - guitar
Piotr Kozieradzki - drums
Jacek Melnicki - keyboards

Tracks

1)	The Same River	12.01
2)	Out Of Myself	3.43
3)	I Believe	4.14
4)	Reality Dream	6.13
5)	Loose Heart	4.48
6)	Reality Dream II	4.43
7)	In Two Minds	4.35
8)	The Curtain Falls	7.57
9)	OK	4.45

Summary

The music

Opener The Same River starts off with sounds of flipping through radio channels, moving into what seems a slow build up in which mainly synth and guitar raise the tension. This build up on several occasions leads into an instrumental basin, the latter of which is rather long. The feel of the music on this track is progressive, swooping. However the build up is drawn out too far, thus deflating the tension in the process. As the bass leads into the vocal section, we're six and a half minutes in already. The vocals have a mysterious feel, somewhat similar to Opeth's Akerfeldt on their slower tracks.

The title track on the other hand comes to business right away. The bass is throbbing, rushing, urging the vocals on towards the chorus, the guitar washing over. In the bridge section following this the music borders on alternative, but the addition of progressive elements brings texture, especially found in the mesmerizing guitar. The sudden end of the track explains the rush.

I Believe starts with synth and background sounds, the vocalist musing to himself (seemingly in a bar) he has to believe in himself. From this we move into a section that's near guitar-vocal, slowly picking up with the addition of bass and something that sounds like a more traditional string instrument. From this we ebb towards the end, once more acoustic guitar and vocals only.

Reality Dream is an open sounding instrumental track, carried by a positive sounding guitar and happy bass. At times we hear vocal chanting in the back across the melody or a heavy rhythm guitar setting in.

Loose Heart with its strumming bass and controlled vocals for most of the track has a gentle feel. The face of the track is suddenly changed with the onset of a heavy rhythm guitar followed by grunted vocals as nears its end. A heart with two sides.

Reality Dream II features a lingering guitar, simply supported by bass, drums and keys in the back. The track sounds very friendly, but fails to build the sort of tension one might expect, floating by.

In Two Minds restores the guitar sounding near creepy, even though the base is once again guitar vocal. In the mid section we get some synth and more guitar making for a solo. The structure of this song is pretty traditional.

The Curtain Falls opens with the open sounding guitar once again. Several minutes into the song a break brings on a darker feel, with whispers more than vocals. This long middle section is pushed forward by lingering guitars and throbbing bass, slowly raising the tension, until the heavy guitar sets in once again, supported by tense keyboard sounds. The tension abates, returning to the guitar and bass. Like the opening track this is an example of building towards a climax, after which the tension just seeps away because said climax never comes.

Closer OK is very atmospherical, supported by synth and slowly sung vocals. The brushed percussion and guitar solo would fit in well with instrumental jazz. In fact, this track would probably sound pretty good in a smoky pianobar.

Conclusion

With heavier albums it's quite important that in one way or another some sort of tension breaker is built in. This side of the music is definitely not ignored by Riverside. Quite the opposite: whereas the band very much shows they know how to build tension, there are several instrumental tracks (Reality Dream I & II) and sections (The Same River) that lack the tension of the vocal sections. Having said that, the more guitar vocal sections tend to float towards a poppy sound that feels non-committal. Both these effects let the album's feel slip away unnecessarily. The result is an album that shows some very strong sections and songs, but with a number of bits that are too weak to keep up the promise laid down in the vocal sections. From that point of view I would rather call this album a good step up to its follow up, than that it fully stands up for itself.