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If I describe the new one from Natalie Bouloudis as having gothic overtones, I will immediately qualify that this is a million miles away from the rock-infused, punky-attitude bands with which such a term was first associated. No, “Dream River” comes from the same sort of place as Nero Kane or our lord and master, Nick Cave – gothic in a more otherworldy and apocalyptic sense.
“Dream River” also runs on a certain amount of drifting and delicate psychedelia, not to mention being full of dark folk finesse and an almost neo-classical grace. You can even catch the distant echo of those iconic jazz-blues singers from times gone by being channeled here. This swirl of gossamer sonics, occasionally given added musical weight by abrasive guitars and with a wandering violin seeming to lead the way much of the time, acts as the perfect platform for Bouloudis’ gorgeous vocal tones, sometimes hazy and whispered and occasionally robust, ebbing and flowing to match the intensity of the music that it dances over.
If you perhaps took the songwriting skills of Sharon Van Etten and blended them with the outsider approach of PJ Harvey and then dragged the whole thing into the aforementioned Mr. Cave’s nighttime world, you will be somewhere close to where this “Dream River” carries us. But the defining factor is, as it should be, Natalie Bouloudis’ sonic personality, her own deft penmanship, her ability to arrange and edit, her masterful delivery, and, of course, that sensational and seductive voice.
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