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‘Glow’ the percussion heavy opening track on Black Tape for a Blue Girl’s latest release Halo Star teases the listener with just over a minute of musical foreshadowing. Although there are no discernable lyrics in this brief yet, potent instrumental offering, the liner notes reveal a parenthetical accompaniment that begins with “graceful, dark and lonely. burnt. scared. stricken!” Ironically, these very adjectives could quite effortlessly be used to describe Halo Star itself, the 9th full-length release from Projekt Record’s signature artist. The eleven tracks that follow ‘Glow’ represent the blend of Darkwave and Neoclassical styles that has become Black Tape for a Blue Girl’s signature sound. In typical BTFBG style, vocals on Halo Star are distinct and varied with Elysabeth Grant providing a succulent soprano on such tracks as “Your Love is Sweeter Than Wine,” an impassioned tribute to founding member Sam Rosenthal and flautist Lisa Feuer’s son Sasha, in which Grant coos, “I believe in the beauty in your eyes, in the power of your words / I believe, I believe in your purity / you’ll set me free / you’ll set the world free.” Later tracks such as ‘Already Forgotten’ further showcase her range as she stretches into a nearly bottomless alto in such lines as “I thought to walk away / my emptiness stabs right through me / my thoughts are plaguing me / deceiving me / and isn’t that just like it always is? / and isn’t that just like it always is?” Conversely, Bret Helm (of Audra) provides a sagacious and moody male voice for seven of the album’s tracks including “Knock Three Times,’ a tongue in cheek, vamp-goth take off on the Tony Orlando song of the same name. However, in the BTFBG version Helm instructs the listener to “Knock three times on your coffin if you want my love / twice on the pipe if your answer is no.” But Helm’s vocals are perhaps most powerful on Halo Star’s tenth track ‘The Fourth Footstep’ in which they take on a gauzy and breathy quality that couldn’t possibly be better suited to this seven minute long composition that is as haunted and ethereal as it is lovely and seductive. Indeed, Halo Star is sure to please loyal fans of Black Tape for a Blue Girl who have had to wait for a new album since 2002’s The Scavenger Bride. However, while the blanket of familiarity does certainly stretch around most tracks on Halo Star, don’t be fooled. This release represents a new chapter for Black Tape for a Blue Girl, a band that has, since its inception, been the vehicle through which Rosenthal’s creative juices ran unobstructed. And although Halo Star is without question a Black Tape of a Blue Girl creation, there is a change in the wind that can be easily seen through the album’s varied instrumentation. While Rosenthal’s distinctive electronic work, with the inclusion of such classical elements as flute (Lisa Feuer), violin (Vicki Richards) and dulcimer (Michael Laird), remains the cornerstone for most melodies, Halo Star is marked by an unusual emphasis on percussion and guitar, elements that have not, until this release, been readily associated with Black Tape for a Blue Girl. What is remarkable about this evolution is that while it adds an additional layer to Halo Star, it does so without detracting at all from the sound that has come to define one of Darkwave’s most influential and architectural artists. That said, Halo Star seems to reflect a collaborative vision, rather than simply that of its founder making it not only a well crafted and captivating new chapter in Black Tape for a Blue Girl’s development, but also Projekt Record’s most important release this year.
JENNIFER JONES
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