Art Noir – Silent Green
‘Another Green World’
It’s not often music will catch you completely by surprise but track three of Silent Green – the title track as it happens- threw me a complete curveball. After the series of disparate clicks, ticks and general discordance of opening track ‘Dark Temple ‘ and the vivid sci-fi swoosh’s that kick off ‘Lost Game‘ leading into a sort of ‘Saw’ like monologue that would make young children afraid of their own shadow and maybe everybody else’s shadow as well the album segues into the pleasant ambient drift of ‘Silent Green‘. Then the vocals of Nadine Stelzer flow with sinuous grace- singing of ‘Diving into darkness‘ and it morphs into a sinister but beguiling torch song.
From that moment on Silent Green keeps the listener on their metaphorical toes. From the George W Bush sampling ‘Almost Normal‘ (there is a joke there somewhere) to the burlesque almost medieval flourishes of ‘Mental‘ to the haughty ballad ‘Brother Of Sleep’ (again sung by Nadine Stelzer) then the ominous ambient streaks of ‘Violet Rain‘ and the drum & bass epidermis of ‘Take The Blue Pill’ the music is cleverly nuanced and while still retaining a cohesive industrial spine it flits around genres most impressively.
Even if the odd track such as the wishy washy ‘Autumn Moon‘ drifts aimlessly around like fog in a back alley the overall conception, flow and arrangement of Silent Green Is impressive. What else could you expect from a film composer -Jan Weber (working with Carlos Peron) someone who clearly is aware of the enervating power of the industrial and the seductive pull of melody? Silent Green meshes these two approaches together confidently and for the most part with a clear understanding of how each disparate method best works within the (broad) confines of this music.