Tuesday, September 14, 2010

In Embrace - Passionfruit Pastels (1982)

Another Cherry Red classic! You can never have enough Cherry Red in your collection - they were arguably one of the best labels of the 80s and put out some amazing releases. In Embrace's Passionfruit Pastels is no exception, their sound is uniquely crystalline and chameleonic. I don't know what you'd classify it as really. The only recurring attribute is acoustic guitar accompanied by a keyboard or organ, but that doesn't really tell you much. The album starts off relatively accessible with some percussion driven pop ("Half Awake (Mountains)") then progresses towards the cosmic chimes backing "Our Star Drawn Through Panes" and proceeds to hop around from piano threnodies ("Tears Turn Fresh") to just plain curios ("At East") to sincerely sung psychedelic hymns ("To Friends (An Open Letter)"). In summary, an exotic, fragile, and pristine album from a short-lived, overlooked band.

Rating: 7.5/10

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