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| Album Rating: B |
Confession time: I was thoroughly prepared to write off Phaeleh's
Tides as a case of "more of the same" after hearing the beginning few tracks for the first time.
Tides's trademark brand of warm, enveloping dubstep stuck out as exactly what Phaeleh had done so masterfully on
Fallen Light, and opener "Journey," with its Hollywood strings, garage-tinged cymbals and subtle ebb and flow, seemed no different than much of the producer's earlier material. Of course, pigeonholing the album into the category of "NO INVENTION HURR DURR" is unfair. After all, who really cares that "Here Comes the Sun" follows closely in the footsteps of "Afterglow?" Sure, both songs feature Soundmouse wailing about wordlessly and beautifully. Sure, there's a suspiciously similar clap/snare in both. And sure, in both cases the bass comes in after a particularly spare moment, perfectly timed. At the same time, though, "Afterglow" is my go-to song when I want to demonstrate to friends that dubstep isn't all womps and bangs. What's more, "Here Comes the Sun," rather than coming off as a shameless ripoff, sits as more of a revamped and reimagined version of an excellent example of Phaeleh's sound.
