Aux-In

I have been wanting to pick up this album for some time, and now I've finally done so. The caveat? Well, in order to save a measly $10, rather than import the hard copy, I went to Amazon and purchased the rest of the songs I didn't already have, replete in all their mp3 glory.


The album's title, Piercing The Quiet, is fitting in the sense that I take that to mean it's Tritonal saying through their music what they can't otherwise put into words. Music for introverts, perhaps -- not that it has to be so that, exclusively. There are a total of 15 tracks, which is more than I thought there would be. All tracks except #6 are original mixes, so I will leave off the [Original Mix] tagging for those. Track #6 is an album mix. Namely, there are two songs that I know I'm going to dig right off the bat: "Broken Down" and "Sometimes I Wish." More on them later in the review.

Let's get to it.

Note: All song timestamps are based on the album tracks, not YouTube videos.

1) Poem of Angels": "Poem Of Angels" is movie soundtrack material, set to an uplifting, exploring-the-sky/heavens-on-a-big-giant-winged creature type of feel, which I suppose is my way of saying the song is living up to its title. It starts off with a super slow, light, symphonic-like opening until we hit the 1:55 mark. It picks up from there, but not by a whole lot. At about the 2:55 mark, it gets more intense, but this adds to the sense of calm, rather than detracts from it. Also present are noises that simulate the screeching sounds that birds make as they're navigating through the air, as if Tritonal incorporated these samples to mimic the peacefulness of flying doves. This is an instrumental, although I think I'm hearing some inaudible vocal chopping that's being used as a sound. As standalone introductory tracks are concerned, it works for this album. A fade out transitions into track 2.

2) "Can't Keep It In" ; (ft. Jeza): Now we get some beats. Whereas the first song is only an introductory track, this is a fitting album opener. It's also the Tritonal I've come to know and appreciate.


Vocals come in now from Jeza:

And this is the moment
Where it begins
You pull me closer
Under my skin

While the lyrics are typical club/sex-based, it's the exaggerated/amped vocal filtering that keeps things melodic, flowing and hot. At 2:55 the song breaks in melody a bit and goes choppy, which is something I'd prefer it didn't do. There is the "can't keep" vocal that is getting spliced and repeated during this down stretch. Then @ 3:55 the song breaks back into a proper melody and I hear some piano work being added to the song. It finishes the last half with an emphasis on the vocals; the vocal work is just right.

Mat Zo would later remix this, which you can check out here.

3) "Ziziki": Vocal edits that are used as sounds. I really need to come up with a singular word for that rather than typing a sentence each time to describe one effect. I'm getting some ever-so-slight aquatic vibes from this. Then at 1:35 it goes into booming synths. A vocal "ah-uh, ahh-aaah" is placed throughout the song. It's uplifting and relaxing in its feel, but it's not helped by that fact that it is all over the place.

4) "Broken Down" ; (ft. Meredith Call): Very good tune with fantastic vocals from Meredith Call. The "dah dah, dah dah" is catchy in addition to the choruses. The song follows a normal structure until we get to 4:05. At that point, "Broken Down" takes everything it had been building toward to culminate in a cohesive burst of energy.


Something to listen to when you might be feeling down and you want a pick-me-up of the soul. I know there's a deeper, gem of a conclusion that I could draw form the lyrics, but I'm allowed some writer's block when it suits me. All you need to know is that I could get lost in this song and not give a **** about the outside world, if only for the five minutes and 49 seconds that the song lasts.

5) "Retake": I'm hearing two different beats, a trance one and then a more abrasive-sounding backing track. The tempo sounds like 138 BPM uplifting style. Then it slows again and has a chime-sounding synth. Looks like this is shaping up to be an instrumental. At 2:15 the entire track syncs together as it gets back to a faster beat. Normal song, nothing special.

6) "Piercing Quiet" [Album Mix] ; (ft. Cristina Soto): I haven't heard this one yet. It starts out with an instrumental/intro that is sightly abrasive. Past the first minute the vocals come in. Soto works very well with Tritonal, but I'm not liking her here. This might have something to do with Tritonal mixing this track with vocals that go "And I eee I eee I," which is annoying. Also, the lyrics are too kumbaya"ish" for me, with lines such as:

The world is in constant motion
And so are all of us
You love the glow of sunrise
My stars come out at night

This isn't as strong as the other top quality vocal tracks on the album.

7) "Sometimes I Wish" ; (ft. Bethany): Another great one. I have already written about the extended mix version of this track in a previous post in this journal, so I will steal my own quotes, verbatim:

I will add this: the featured singer is Bethany. Which Bethany out of the several billion females on the planet is it? Who knows? You either want to be a singing star and get your name out there, or you don't.

8) "Something New" ; (ft. Jenry R): Male vocals here, and he sounds like his voice would work well in a pop-punk band. The song is midtempo. "I just can't walk away" is getting repeated too much and I'm not feeling that the singer is connecting with the material. Hey now, at 4:10 the song goes into epic mode, which does give it some redeeming qualities. However, there are too many "I just can't walk away" lines, and I'm afraid that's what I'll have to do with "Something New."

9) "Everafter" ; (ft. Cristina Soto): In general, this song carries a slow, chill, bleak and depressing feel throughout it. It's the opposite of uplifting. There is good piano and vocal work along with some symphonic elements as well.

10) "I Can't Breathe" ; (ft. Jeza): Thump, thump, thump goes the uplifting beat. Well-produced, but on the generic side of things. It's not speaking to me. I like some uplifting trance, but progressive trance is more my style.

11) "Lifted" ; (ft. Cristina Soto): Boop, boop, boop goes the beat. Vocals again from Cristina Soto, and they simply...just...work. At a minute in, Tritonal goes with another beat that is abrasive and non-melodic. However, at the same time, there's another back beat that is, in fact, melodious. Oh yeah!, then at 2:08 it grabs you by the ears. So listen up, and get lifted.

I like the vocal part where she sings:

Love can't stay on a higher ground
The fall from grace may not make a sound.

I especially like the parts where she says "lifted" in short bursts of strength, as if she's overcoming her weaknesses to reach a different plain of motivation.

Overall, the beat's not bad, but it's the vocals that make this song shine.

12) "Murakami": Moderately-hard, ambient trance. Chopped vocals that aren't audible. Sounds like some leftover beats from one of their previous tracks that they mixed with different techniques.

13) "Slave" ; (ft. Fisher): YES!! Love the instrumental on this. I didn't know this was on here, as I've come across the club mix before. Where the vocals were the standouts on the previous tracks, this is, in fact, the best instrumental on the entire album. It's very original and catchy too. An absolute banger instrumental. The one downside is that the vocals are distracting, so pick up the Tritonal & Ben Gold Club Dub Mix instead, found here. It's even more powerful and has better mixing.

14) "Shapes Revolve": This one isn't revealing itself right away, so I will have to see what shape it takes. I'm hearing vocals from a male in the background, and then at 1:30...what's this? oh no, oh no, say it isn't so...Tritonal has gone with a vocal-reverb effect (don't know what it's called) where the vocals sound like that of a robot. Not cool to have that on what is otherwise an album with music that takes itself seriously. This is the worst song on the album.

15) "Still With Me" ; (ft. Cristina Soto): Another good vocal tune, albeit slower than I'd prefer it to be. This comes around again to using similar sounds as the introductory track. I must have heard a different version than this, as this is structured as more of an outro song than whatever version it was that I remember hearing. "Still With Me" is a calming, angelic closer.


BEST TRACK: Maaaaaan, it's hard to choose definitively, so I'm going to say it's a tie between "Broken Down" and "Sometimes I Wish."
WORST TRACK: "Shapes Revolve"

After listening to the whole thing, I get a sense that it's one of those albums that gets better every time you give it a spin. So much so, that I'd be willing to bet that the parts that I didn't like at first would grow on me over time. Ultimately, if you're a fan of modern trance, this album is an essential output for your album rack, shelf or digital library.

THE FINAL WORD

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"All over a bowl of bitter beans."