Choir Of Young Believers’ Rhine Gold is an ambient pop listen with lo-fi vocals thrown in. The album starts off with the second longest song, “The Third Time,” which is a combustion of diverse instruments with a ghastly feel while debuting Jannis Noya Makrigiannis’ melodic vocals. Although a good release overall, some tracks on Rhine Gold lost me in the middle of them. The normalcy of “Paint New Horrors” makes it blend into the background compared to some of its predecessors.
The shortest piece on Rhine Gold is the catchiest out of them all; however, it is also the most generic sounding. “Patricia’s Thirst” is two and a half minutes of infectious electro-pop with robotic tones thrown in to try to veer away from sounding too typical. “Sedated” features blasts of horns as well as a thunderstorm ending that adds an Earthy feel to the album. Makrigiannis strips down to the bare essentials for “Have I Ever Truly Been Here,” which is the mellowest and rawest cut on the release. The title track, which ends the disc, is also the dreariest compared to the halfway point on it. Rhine Gold‘s most interesting cut is also the longest. “Paralyse” starts off on a slow foot just to explode into a ball of energy, though the tempo of it never remains constant. Throughout the 10+ minute song, the tempo and emotion of the track flip-flops from being completely upbeat to down a number of times.
Even though there are some less than memorable pieces on Rhine Gold, Choir Of Young Believers’ first full-length since 2008 isn’t a disappointment—instead, it might just take a little while longer to fully appreciate it.
In A Word: Balmy
