It's 2 pm and I've been awake for about an hour. I'm bored and slightly depressed. It's Saturday. 

I can't remember how I got to listen to the Angels of Light's previous album, How I Loved You, sometime in the fall but I love it. It reminds me of Lou Reed when he was still able to write two good songs in a row and it's filled with the dark coziness one can find in the best Tom Waits albums. In this respect, Everything is Good Here/Please Come Home doesn't differ from its predecessor. It's sometimes urgently urban, sometimes intensely wild, sometimes softly touching. It sounds deeply American, sometimes timeless, sometimes modern.

I had written a song by song description but then I remembered how boring I thought these descriptive reviews were to read (and to write). Gira's voice sounds sometimes like Lou Reed, sometimes like the Black Heart Procession singer (whatever his name is) sometimes like a wild Native warrior (let's call him Nobody, he who talks much and says nothing). The music sounds sometimes timeless (circa 1901) sometimes a lot like the Velvet Underground (especially the gorgeous Kosinski) but never avant-garde. I declare avant-garde boring. Sunset Park is a beautiful hypnotic ballad going in circles and you can see the sun shine through the clouds. 

I love How I Loved You but I have to confess that there are a few cringe-worthy moments in it, especially in the lyrics. Surprisingly enough (and a good surprise it is) Gira seems to have stopped trying not to sing anything that has been sung before and his skills have also impressively improved since How I Loved You. 

One of the main qualities of this album, a quality shared by bands such as Black Heart Procession, is the global musical unity found throughout the album. Every songs fits and sounds like it belongs there. Everything is Good Here/Please Come Home is a beautiful dark album.   

-Vsevolod

/feb 15th 2003/