Release Date:  11/04/2011

Released On:   Play It Again Sam



The Goldberg Sisters is the new project of fairly-well known actor US Adam Goldberg, he of the horrible death in Saving Private Ryan and odd attitudes to co-habitation in Friends.  Goldberg is quite clearly one of those relentlessly creative types that invoke feelings of jealously in us laymen, and The Goldberg Sisters are his second musical project after LANDy, who released an album in 2009. This album, whilst not being an unmitigated success, has more than enough on it to suggest that Goldberg is a musical artist to endure beyond his two projects so far.

Influences are everywhere, with opener The Room reminiscient of classic Simon and Garfunkel – almost-whispered vocals acoustic guitars layered with intermittent strings and harmonies. It’s an atmospheric, ominous, start that showcases his androgynous voice.

Mother Please- and not just because of the subject matter-could very easily be early seventies Lennon; the track lilts along on a mournful piano line, while his echoed vocals ring out ‘mother, mother , mother, mother please/aren’t you tired just like me?’  It then floats to an ending that is all Mercury Rev-swirling synths, disparate vocals, tinkling piano.  It’s all really rather lovely.

Lennon is a touchpoint for the whole album; the vague melancholy throughout, the high pitch, the sense of the unhinged; that at any point Goldberg could drift off to another soundscape. No more is this the case than in Shush, a stunning track, the best on the album and an early contender for song of the year.  What makes it so special? It’s two songs in one, it’s got the pre-requisite drift at the start where Goldberg croons ‘with those whispering eyes/those pretty lonely lines/we tread ever so gently across the scaffold of your smile’ before a trumpet and blues guitar breakdown in the middle where Goldberg goes the closest he ever will to a rap.  Mix in with that occasional yelping, endless harmonies, a lick that sounds like it was played by the ghost of Harrison and some shivery strings that bridge the second and third parts and you have a track that is, whisper it (resisting the urge to say shush here), nigh on perfect.

It has to be said that the rest of the album doesn’t match up to Shush, but to lambast Goldberg too much for that would seem churlish.  The problem-and this is just a personal point of view- with this brand of dream-pop is that it can at times get a little samey.  It’s the same with Mercury Rev; there’s moments of almost unbearable sadness/happiness/melancholy, but there’s also large portions that veer dangerously close to slipping by you.  For instance, I’ve been listening to this album fairly regularly for three weeks but until writing this review, didn’t register the crackly ‘You’re Beautiful When You Die,’ which could be Daniel Johnstone if he got on the smack (in a good way.)

Erik Erikson doesn’t really bring much to the table, whilst the somewhat forced delivery on Third Person brings to mind Beady Eye (sorry, Adam.)  Despite this, there is much to admire on this record and more than enough to suggest Goldberg will continue down his relentlessly inventive path for a while yet.

 


6/10

Posted In Album Reviews, Apr 12 2011. Words - David