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"All the Houses Look the Same," from Deas Vail, beams across the universe like a ray of dazzling white light from high above the clouds. Yes, their sound is that bright.
Newcomers Deas Vail serve up 13 well-crafted original songs of enormous imagination and wide-ranging diversity. “All the Houses Look the Same” is an odd title for an album where absolutely nothing looks the same, from the cleverly-titled piano ballads that bookend this sparkling debut, to the high-density gems that inhabit the middle. Their richly melodic, ambient music covers realms both spiritual and emotional, though their lyrics definitely graduated with high marks from the school of the oblique. Deas Vail makes you stretch toward comprehension but the mystique only enhances your enjoyment of their intelligent space pop. “All the Houses Look the Same” comes across as airy and mellow but their deceptive blend of electronic effects, instrumentation, and soaring vocal arrangements are actually stunning and intricate. The lovely “Shoreline” builds from quiet strings and a melodic piano line into a bright crescendo of light, thick with splashing cymbals, before leaving you with a feeling of sweet release. It’s followed immediately by the undulating rock of “A Lover’s Charm,” its thundering guitars melding into stark spacey beat-driven rock, all the more moving for its emotive mystery. Song of surrender, “Anything You Say,” is an intricate dance of electronic and vocal interplay, and frontman Wes Blaylock’s amazing vocals wander wide and free as he bemoans love lost over the sparkling keys of “Life in These Little Boats.” There’s really only one way in which Deas Vail’s intricate and ethereal “All the Houses Look the Same” is NOT mysterious: there is absolutely no question of its value. Giving up big bang for the buck, the Deas Vail debut album is a must-have.
The copyright of the article Deas Vail: Review in Christian Music is owned by Kevan Breitinger. Permission to republish Deas Vail: Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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