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Ariels
 
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Ariels

Bent | Format: Audio CD
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
Price: £11.36 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this with The Everlasting Blink ~ Bent Audio CD £9.00

Ariels + The Everlasting Blink
Price For Both: £20.36

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Product details

  • Audio CD (16 Jun 2009)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Spg
  • ASIN: B0007U8XUC
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 230,969 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Product Description

Album Description

Ariels is a massive departure and progression for Bent, in that it dispenses with the found-sound reliance of their first two albums (Programmed to Love and The Everlasting Blink. Ariels is their first album that doesn't contain any samples, just pure sounds. Featuring the vocal talents of Steve Edwards, Sian from Kosheen, Rachel from Weekend Players and long time Bent cohort Katty, this album represents musicianship and songwriting skills, in which guitar chords replace samples as the starting point for the tracks. The result is a remarkable, emotionally resonant album.

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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
Like some of the other reviewers here, I too was totally shocked to find Bent had changed their sound. It was quite unnerving at first since I was a huge fan of the previous two albums and their weird take on electronic music. BUT, after listening to the album for a few days I was completely clueless as to why I even doubted Bent in the first place; Ariels is just downright beautiful! Whilst the usual quirkiness hasn't completely been lost, Bent have concentrated more on the musical diversity and sheer audio quality on this new album. Each track has a gorgeous range of instruments and vocal talent that far supersedes the previous albums. Artificial sounding electronic basslines and synths are combined with more natural sounding acoustics that flow together so incredibly well, you're almost left overwhelmed by the sheer diveristy and richness. Unlike previous albums, the work on the vocals has been improved upon greatly with the addition of singers from groups such as Kosheen and Weekend Players. Like before the music is very dreamy and eccentric, though with Ariels, Bent have take a much more lively and 'upbeat' approach, with music that can easily be coined as ambient/ethereal electronica.

Overall, I have to say I love all 12 tracks, but my most listened to have to be, "As You Fall", "Silent Life","You Are The Oscillator" and the awe inspiring "On The Lake", an astonishingly serene ambient track that never fails to make me daydream!

This is an absolute must for any Bent fan or anyone who appreciates graceful, chilled out music.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Eschewing much of the loveable wackiness of their first two LPs (bar the continuing pre-occupation with steel guitars and fluttering harps), Aerials offers 12 sublime examples of the sort of immediate chilled-out pop that characterised Bent's classic Swollen track.
By the time the rippling synths of the magical epic closer The Waters Deep kick in you'll be in heaven but there's plenty more
goodness on show with Now I Must Remember and As You Fall being equally spine-tingling. Ensuring things don't get too horizontally-inclined, there's also the chirpy bleepy disco of Exercise 4,which draws comparisons with Royksopp.
Indeed, musical references are easy to pick out. Air (Sunday Boy in particular), early St Etienne, Cocteau Twins and Zero 7 spring to mind (and anyone who likes any of those should buy this on sight) but Aerials still stands tall (sorry) in its own right as a chilled summer classic in the making.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
Not knowing this album had been produced, let alone released, I happened to stumble across this accidentally and immediately bought it, being the huge Bent fan I am. With newly triggered expectation as I brought it home with me, I was expecting some more great Bent music in their usual beautiful bent way.

I was mistaken.

At first, any long-time bent fan would definately not recoginise it at all. It's not normal Bent, and that certainly wasn't pleasing initially! I was shocked by how different it sounded. The quirkiness of the previous albums that leaps out at you had disappeared and you're left with 'normal' music. It seemed that any random Joe could have made this...

Or so I thought.

Refusing to dislike it, my love of Bent forced me to give it a chance, and now I'm wondering why I ever questioned it's undoubted brilliance. It has barely left my CD player since I got it in August, so it must be two solid months of repeated play, which is the only the other album to have grabbed me so much since Chicane's wonderful 'Far From The Maddening Crowds'. 'Ariels' is fantastic. Once you get used to how different it is, you will begin to accept that this is completely different Bent work in its own right, and it's practically flawless.

The weakest two for me are 'Sunday 29th' and 'The Waters Deep', which unfortunately verge on pop. However, they do have their moments of brilliance, which makes up for it.

Aside from them it's all good. 'Comin' Back' is perhaps the most uplifting track I've heard in ages, probably since Lemon Jelly's fantastic 'Nice Weather For Ducks', which meant I felt refreshed by Bent's new work.

Other most stand-out highlights have to be 'Silent Life' (probably my favourite on the album), which is also fantastically upbeat and very catchy. 'Sing Me' is reminiscent of the work of Weekend Players, which features the vocalist of that very artist, and it's no bad thing whatsoever. It's realaxing stuff. Most relaxing of all though has to be the sublime 'On the Lake', which reminds me of former Bent brilliance, with huge amounts of added extra quality, which forms a perfect listen. Finally, 'Exercise 4' brings back memories of previous Bent, with a fun tune, but again, with that added touch that makes Ariels feel so different to Bent's previous work.

Make no mistake, the rest of the album is finely crafted and cannot be ignored. There are no "filler" tracks in this as it's all worth listening to. Repeatedly.

You cannot go wrong with this, it's the first thing you want to listen to in the morning and the last thing you NEED to listen to at night. Fantastic stuff!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Have i died and gone to heaven ?!!!!
The angels are singing and the cherubs are playing the chords. Blissed out Brilliance !!!! Emotional, sensual, chilled, languid
Published on 16 Jun 2009 by oaode
Soothing electronica, a fine example of Bent
This album is arguably Bent's best work but, if you've heard their other albums, it is hard to really say this for sure. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2009 by DaveW
GORGEOUS!
Only a couple of paragraphs are required to review this album.
Bands like Bent & Goldfrapp of course, restore my faith in the modern music industry a little way, in that there... Read more
Published on 29 July 2008 by A. Lark
Musical Nirvana
I waited over a fortnight for this gem to come through and I bought it purely on the strength of the evangelical reviews here. But oh boy, was it worth it! Read more
Published on 8 May 2007 by A. Healy
not the Bent that we know - but fantastic anyway
I am rarely compelled to review an album that I have heard, but Ariels deserves it. As many other reviews have noted, this is so different from the Bent back catalogue that you... Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2006 by "danbusso"
Their best yet
I always thought Bent were a quirky band. One minute they'd conjure up brilliance but there would always be the odd annoying track which would make you hit fast forward. Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2005 by Mr. Robert Murphy
Off the fake tory party political broadcast
Everyone who watched the spoof party political broadcasts on Channel 4 commented that the bed to the tory one was great. Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2005
Bent go straight...
Yes, as previous reviewers have pointed out, something of a departure for Bent. Less quirky, less funny but much more of a crafted effort. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2004 by Scubaboy
Bent returns. I love them. But...
Ahhhh, the shock I got when I walked into a music shop and not only was there a poster advertising Bent, it was a new Bent album too. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2004 by David Hunter
A Beautiful Progression
I received this album as a promotional disc about 4 weeks ago and it has not been out of my CD player since. This album can only be described as beautiful. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2004
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