Notes to an Absent Lover

I don't know a lot about this band - however, it's the music that counts. Barzin produce slow paced melancholic songs of fragile beauty reminiscent of Mojave 3 - another excellent, understated, underated band. Both bands use light guitar, brushed drums, steel guitar and strings to embellish songs of love and heartbreak.

This album wont light everyones heart, but if you, like I, enjoy downbeat, drifting, melancholic songs (miserable geyser that I am), these songs will make an afternoon in the sun drift away very blissfully.

First two stand-out tracks are very beautiful, the next few are very decent, if unremarkable, and the album builds nicely into the strings-enhanced, 'Stay too long in this place' followed the upbeat majesty of 'Look what love has turned us into' before drifting to sleep on the last track 'the Dream song'.

I, for one, look forward to the next offering. Recommended!

As far as I am able to ascertain Barzin started life
as a single human being named Barzin Hosseini, a Canadian
singer/songwriter of considerable talent but for reasons
best known to himself his surname eventually fell away
leaving his forename as a banner under which he relinquished
his persona for the greater good of collaborative ideals.
Or something like that.

Despite (or because of) this, his (Their?) new album
'Notes To Absent Lover' sounds curiously like the work
of one man with a distinctively individual musical vision.

These are lovely songs; crafted with care and performed
with palpable warmth and conviction. Intimate snapshots
about love and life and loss sung from the inside out.

Mr Barzin has an undemonstrative voice. The melodies he
constructs ensure that he never strays either too high or
too low away from the safety and security of his gentle
middle register. Despite these self-imposed restrictions
it is a perfectly pleasant instrument with just a hint
of fragile vibrato here and there for colour and contrast.

Nothing ever gets over-heated or even a tad jaunty for a
moment (perhaps with the exception of 'Look What Love Has
Turned Us Into' but even here Mr Barzin sings at half-speed
against the solid 4/4 beat!) It is this pervasive melancholic
quality which gives the music its charm and individuality.

Just for a moment at the beginning of opening track
'Nobody Told Me' I was reminded of America's 1972 hit
'A Horse With No Name' but once this fanciful notion
dissipated I was able to enjoy the gently loping
composition for its own worth. The inclusion of a
mournful pedal-steel guitar and strings adds atmosphere
and texture to the unhurried arrangement.

'Soft Summer Girls' is a song full of painful reflection
and regret. Sometimes it doesn't pay to rake over the
embers of a failed relationship but Mr Barzin seems to
have made the most of the experience by transforming
his angst into a composition of quiet redemptive beauty.

'When It Falls Apart' finds our hero, once again, stumbling
about in the ruins. I wanted to give him a hug at this point
and say something like : "Come on fella, leave it alone for
a bit - let's go have a beer or three" but some people just
have to work it out their own way for better or worse.

Crikey! Things reach a real low with 'Lost'. The song
struggles for breath and movement but can only sit and stare
inwards at itself. Listening to it is almost unbearable.

Final track 'Dream Song' brings the project to a truly
disquieting close. Even in sleep Mr Barzin is unable to
find peace and some little hope of leaving the past behind.

As "Break-Up" records go 'Notes To Absent Lover'
takes a lot of beating. Don't get me wrong, it's a
good listen but make sure you find the right moment.
....but (and it's a BIG BUT!)....avoid the album at
all costs if you have recently fallen out of love.

Cautiously Recommended.