Immediately, the quality of the sound and musicianship come to the fore headed by excellent vocals. The title track is a powerful mix of disturbing lyrics and assured sound. “Curious Angel” is equally memorable and moves the album nicely towards “See the Light”. Again, there are powerful elements at play here giving the album an undeniable and dramatic edge. Not once losing the sense of purpose or direction, Touchstone manage to maintain interest throughout. There isn’t a note, lyric, or effect anywhere on this album that hasn’t been thought out and deemed to be an essential part of the ‘whole’.
The highly impressive “Shadow” opens with a sense of style and size before Kim takes the vocal lead in a mid set highlight. Adam Hodgson’s guitar strikes some powerful chords along the journey that adds controlled and relevant depth and a little darkness to the album’s overall passion. It is Kim that leads again on “Ocean Down” and “Blacktide”, before harmonising with Rob, underlining just what she has brought to the band.
“Dignity” is totally sublime, with wonderful lyrics and a performance by the whole band to match, ending with some keyboard wizardry and a searing guitar solo. The album ends with the two-part epic “The Beggars Song”. A fitting and well balanced close to a special album that will grace my own personal music collection for many years to come.
I may have just hit upon one of the albums qualities in that last sentence. This music is timeless and will no doubt appear in years to come having been rediscovered and re-appreciated for the quality achievement that it undoubtedly is. One word of advice - don’t fall asleep with the headphones on in a dark room as the album contains a twist at the end that will have you frantically reaching for a light switch! Wonderful stuff.
Please visit Touchstone’s Official Web Site for news and live dates.
Also please see the interview with Rob Cottingham for a full and revealing insight into the development of both Touchstone and the making of this album. Dated 12th August 2008 it was exclusive on Blogcritics and can be found as part of this Eurorock series.
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