Continuing their trajectory between noisy rock and electronic music, Curve offers Gift, a solid and persuasive album.
The group whose sound has inspired the more commercial Garbage stays in the lineage of its previous productions. Thanks to the intervention of unsurpassable producers like Flood (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails), Alan Moulder (Depeche Mode) as well as Alan Wilder, the ex-sorcerer of Depeche Mode, close attention is paid to the final result
Gift oscillates between the aggressiveness of their previous release, Come Clean, and the dark and vaporous beauty of Doppelgänger, while Toni Halliday's vocals lead the group.
The album opens forcefully on the abrasive "Hell Above Water" with big rhythms and sharp guitars. "Gift" is closer to Come Clean whereas "Want More Need Less" and "Perish" return to the noisy and ethereal sound of Doppelgänger. On the bewitching "Hung Up", Toni Halliday displays misty vocals that conjugate marvelously with very Depeche Mode Violator-period arrangements. "Chainmail" alternates rhythmic mid-tempo and saturated guitars whereas "Fly With High" has industrial accents. "My Tiled White Floor" is another strong moment of Gift with its engaging refrain. The disturbing "Polaroid" has Gothic intonations, and Halliday's voice is more cavernous than ever. The strange "Bleeding Heart" concludes Gift with a deluge of guitars.
Gift remains on familiar terrain but will delight fans nonetheless.
Curve Gift
