Red Nightfall is the last album in my recent memory that succeeds without having any sort of climax or peak; a wave-less album that never steers away from its base sound. The guitar melodies break your heart: this is a depressing record. Addison Siemko sings like a man with nothing left but the music, pondering on death until it comes ("Follow him to their final resting place" he croons like a tormented soul on "Her Passing") At first glance it seems like another soft indie album, alternative here, a little progressive there. But on further delves
Red Nightfall shows itself to be quite an emotional ride, always sad but always exposing everything the band has inside. It's cathartic without having a release which is simultaneously frustrating and glorious. I want
Red Nightfall to explode but it never does - it stays on its path until it wears itself out at the final dying note in "Forever Yours". It's uncompromising to say the least; bare-boned but beautiful,
Red Nightfall is a wondrous record.
The coolest thing about the album is how formless it feels. It's hard to find a verse-chorus-verse here which gives off the impression of a band just jamming out, making tunes, not a care in the world how it's being written. It's also strange how the album doesn't really feel like an
album, more like a collection of songs. There's no flow here, just track after track of desolate tunes, troubled and lonely. The first three songs fly by in the best way possible.
Red Nightfall is one of those albums that can be in the background as a gorgeous soundtrack or it can be plummeted into and become a companion. "Windmills" is the closest Red Nightfall get to a single here, with its backing vocal croons and ethereal melodies that eventually rise into a tight groove that's hard to pass up. There's no percussion until the last minute which splits the song into two but it's always focused.
"And it scares me that I feel nothing, nothing at all" Siemko states passionately, as if he feels only the music. Sounds like a plan.
