Alpha / Come From Heaven
Album: Come From Heaven   Collection:General
Artist:Alpha   Added:Oct 1997
Label:Virgin Records (Modern)  

Recent Airplay
1. Oct 19, 2005: Anywhere Out of the World
Slim
2. Oct 05, 2005: Eels in the Loo
Apple Orange

Album Review
David McWade
Reviewed 2007-02-17
A mixture of trip-hop tracks and 'white' (to my knowledge) soul tracks (that make me think of some late '80s new wave band that I can't put my finger on), mostly downtempo and often orchestrated 'Bristol Sound', layered, electronica, vocal and lyrical delivery tend to be akin to 'telling a story', songs usually take a while to develop. Male (Andy Jenks) and female (Corey Dillon) who both worked on Statik Sound System previously Both soul and trip-hop work well, even to the extent that while I might prefer trip-hop to soul I can see myself playing the soul tracks. As a result, this works better next to Massive Attack than with Portishead, although both will do. 'Sometime Later' apparently was a song at the end credits of the movie 'My Life Without Me'. This is one of the more unrecognized bands
Try 2, 6, 9, 10

1 downtempo somewhere between trip-hop and soul, instrumental, changes with about 1:30 left, long tape-noise ambienct, continues downtempo with about 1:00 left. goes right into next track
2 uptempo, lovely, Corey (she) sings, breathily, faux-piano, perfect uses of repetition in the music and development in the voice/lyrics as/with sound. 3/4 or 9/16 beat, or whatever. best track.
3 soul music, tasteful but if it's not your favorite genre, you have to be in the mood, especially considering how long it is, Andy sings.
4 samples of some old film actor, fits in with older Massive Attack, innocent qualities, male and female vocals, urban
5 ambient long 1 min intro, nice diggerido (sp?), downtempo, beats, instrumental, layered
6 classic song, like #2 perfect interplay between repetition and Corey (female) lyrics/voice (slightly treated), long verse to the 1st climactic chorus, shorter wait to the 2nd (even more) climactic chorus.
7 short track, begins with cacophony of tv samples, coda to #2
8 begins with samples 'god knows what is there', metaphors, soul/trip-hop, Andy's tenor vocals, intense
9 ambient downtempo, samples, Corey (she) vocals come in with about 5:13 left, sultry, C#, variations in energy and tone, imaginative and subtle developments
10 strange drum machine beat, increases/changes energy, viola (possibly a real one), other strings, samples, 'beyond' Eb major, climax starts with about 1:30 left
11 I almost gave up on this one until she started singing
12 soulful Andy sings
13 uses the exact same music as #3 but Corey sings instead, nice coda, reprise



Track Listing
1. My Things   8. Back
2. Rain   9. Nyquil
3. Sometime Later   10. Apple Orange
4. Delaney   11. With
5. Hazeldub   12. Firefly
6. Slim   13. Somewhere not Here
7. Come From Heaven   .