Artist: 3 (Three)
Title: The Ghost You Gave To Me
Type: Album
Label: Metal Blade

We enter the epicentre of soft Progressive music and thinking here. The singer of 3 explains of the band’s fifth album that we’re going to experience “something cinematic” where “the songs tell us where to go”. He also places much emphasis o the lyrics. Personally, I don’t buy into the idea of the spiritual significance of lyrics as I often hear from followers of Dream Theater and Pain of Salvation. There are killer lyrics which affect listeners more than others do – I can think of quite a few great Darkthrone ones – but everyone surely has their own interpretation, which kind of unhinges the argument. The claim in this case specifically refers to the title track and the fact that the “brutal waves born to vapors clung, last gasp escapes your lung” somehow foresaw the 2011 tsunami in Japan and taps into “something beyond how the scientific conception of human consciousness works”. Does it really?

After three very pleasant opening tracks, any misgivings I had that this album was going to be swamped in introspective earnestness were dispelled. The first track “Sirenum Scopuli” has the ambiance of Porcupine Tree with its soft and mellow progression and shadowy vocals. Like the perfect cake, there’s a lightness about the touches. The lyrics are perhaps unsurprisingly strange and there are recognisably Progressive sections but all in all it’s light, airy and altogether pleasant. The album takes off for me on the fourth track “High Times”. The delicacy is there again. It’s unpretentious, there’s a super acoustic touch and it’s played with great dexterity. The feeling is warm. The vocals fall somewhere between John Lennon and Steven Wilson, and I can’t be more complimentary than that. Each track after that has its own identity and through the pleasant soft pitch and classic, unchallenging song structures, it all seems effortless. “Numbers” and “The Ghost You Gave to Me” are busy tracks. The latter is typically pop-orientated. The harmonies are good and whether the lyrics reflect the human devastation of the tsunami or not, they fit in nicely to the pattern of the music. I wasn’t so struck on “One With the Sun” or the lugubrious “The Barrier”, which I thought was rather dreary, but there are more interesting tracks than not. Even “One with the Sun” is reminiscent of the late Beatles era in its reflective style and there’s a nice Celtic pipes section in the middle. “Only Child”, another track singled out by the singer for its lyrics, is a well-balanced song. The instrumental work is exotic. The style reminds me of Canvas Solaris. The dark lyrics themselves are supported by the increase in pace and threat. But this for me was not typical. “Pretty” and “Afterglow” are for me more typical tracks. Both are ostensibly harmless pop tracks and decent songs with a soft Metal pitch.

I was disappointed by 3’s previous work “Revisions” and I had fears for this one when I saw the grandiose claims. I like “The Ghost You Gave to Me”. It both sticks to a pattern and follows a nice flow, resulting in a very pleasant and interesting album.

http://www.theband3.com

Andrew Doherty

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