Review:

		10/10
		Artist: Blume Title: Rise From Grey Format: CD Label: A Different Drum Genre: Synthpop Release date: January 29, 2010

Blume is a new electronic act from Italy consisting of the three members Enrico Filisetti, Ivan Savino and Daniele De Fabritiis and one of the latest signings of the #1 Synthpop label A Different Drum. “Rise From Grey” is their debut album released in late 2009 in US and was later, in the beginning of 2010, also released in Europe.

The album starts out with a great atmospheric intro before we are introduced to the calm and sweet synthpop tunes with “White Shades”. It’s a slow track that offers a distinct beat and great electronic elements and nicely added guitars to create a very harmonic feeling. But don’t get me wrong here, the synthesizers are still the main instruments and the tone of the guitars from Daniele De Fabritiis is at the peak of perfection. If you love Synthpop, you just have to love the voice of Enrico Filisetti. It’s very strong and he has that perfect voice for this kind of music and I just think it sounds amazing. The following song “Walking In The Darkness” is a bit more uptempo with great melodies and a catchy refrain and the output is an emotional track that’s hard not to follow in on the lyrics. This is followed like a red thread through the entire album and I’m really amazed with the music and the production is top class. Take the song “Farewell” for example. A distinct beat pounding structure with its melancholic approach and breathtaking soundscapes to create that energetic song.

The band follows in the vein of Namnambulu with infectious synthetic soundscapes but some of the electronic elements also reminds me of the music from Syrian, another Italian band and also signed to A Different Drum for the US territories. The music is really refreshing and leaves you with only good feelings. I’m just stunned, this is really wonderful and I enjoyed every second of every song. If you’re going to get one album with Synthpop, “Rise From Grey” is definately that album. Beautifully composed ballads like “It’s Not Enough” together with the more melodic “Endless” or “Der Einzige”.

Tracklist:

01. Fallen Horizon
02. White Shades
03. Walking In The Darkness
04. Endless
05. It’s Not Enough
06. Across The Bridge
07. Der Einzige
08. Desperate Love
09. Farewell
10. Bright Light