Orpheus in Red Velvet - The Tendency to Vanish

Named after the song by Marc Almond (Soft Cell) and has been a keyboard player in Diary of Dreams and Plastic, Orpheus in Red Velvet released his debut album 'The Tendency to Vanish' back in 2011.

The album starts strong with the slow and dark "Transient". His quite high pitched singing style works well and hopes for a great album is built up. The quicker synthpop track "Razed" that follow has a strong chorus, just like the third track "I Need of Care".

So far so good, then things starts to turn ugly. The forth track "Silberstreif" is a generic synthpop song that really does not do it for me. Despite the strong chorus in "Without Reason", the harder dance floor EBM style does not fit well.

Luckily, Orpheus in Red Velvet find his way back to the style the album started with in the slower and emotional track "Incapable". This is where Orpheus is at his best. Hope is back.... Aaaaaaand there it's gone.

The cover of Radiohead's "Karma Police" could have been interesting, but ends up being more of a karaoke version instead of a proper cover, to close and similar to the original. The hard techno industrial dance track "Make a Difference" is terribly out of place and that goes for the last track "Reminiscence of a Past" as well.

However, in between, things have a lift of with the ballad "Indifferent (Drifting in Clouds" with a beautiful piano melody.

Orpheus in Red Velvet needs to figure out what he wants to do. He is at his best in the slower and more emotional tunes, and I can live with the sudden jumps to happier synthpop. However, when you toss in some modern EBM styled electro as well as industrial techno into the mix, you get the sense that the release is more of a "here's a bunch of music I made the last year" compilation rather than a thought through album release. Oct 09 2012