Evocative and atmospheric. It should come as no surprise that Barbara Trentalange - the voice and creative force behind Trentalange - is also a visual artist.
Lush, moody and provocative, the songs on "Photo Album of Complex Relationships" are cinematic soundscapes built upon instrumentation that includes cello, piano, flute, bass and percussion, with Trentalage's voice - velvety and emotive - as the foundation and centerpiece.
After touring as part of the most recent line-up of Crooked Fingers and fronting the darkly sophisticated Seattle band Spyglass, the chance to write and record her songs was a liberating and intriguing experience. Trentalange wrote, recorded and performed the vast majority of the album herself. Members of Crooked Fingers, Spyglass and Head Like a Kite added flourishes before Trentalange joined producer Martin Feveyear (Rosie Thomas, The Dark Fantastic) and drummer Mark Pickerel (Screaming Trees, Neko Case, Brandi Carlisle) at Seattle's Jupiter Studios to add the finishing touches of drums and vocals.
The resulting 12 songs are indeed striking (and sometimes unsettling) snapshots of lust, longing, terror, grief and loneliness. The relationships in "Photo Album of Complex Relationships" are ones where terms like "darlin" can be bruising and menacing; where the comfort of another's company is fleeting - and sometimes lethal.
If that sounds melodramatic, it's far from it. Lyrics are oblique and understated, and Trentalange's voice is a soothing, hypnotic force. The drama comes from the arrangements - the slow-building dirge of "Rabbit" that, like the hunt portrayed in the song, rises to a finale and climaxes abruptly, or the ghostly backing vocals of "Stand Alone" that underscore a murder hidden in what feels like an upbeat number.
Like any good drama, "Photo Album of Complex Relationships" draws you in and holds your attention until the end. It's a gripping and engaging album from an artist who's come into her own.
PAST PRESS
Crooked Fingers Press:
The Between Blog
Trentalange was one of the evening's pleasant surprises. For the live shows, it seems, the band is touring with Trentalange, whose voice came across as much more complimentary for the songs and for Bachmann in particularly. She has a slightly lower-pitched, more smoky and sultry voice that wove in and out throughout the songs, proving to be a very compatible and complimentary presence that added nice depth to the music.
Billboard.com
Barbara Trentalange filled in for vocalist Lara Meyerratken, nicely playing off Bachmann on "Sleep All Summer" and "Call to Love."
Spyglass Press:
Seattle Weekly, Aug, 2001
Barbara Trentalange's sultry vocals wind over the part-time orchestra and plenty of guitar noise, giving the songs a Brian Eno-meets-Lush landscape.
Splendid, Sept, 2001
...takes their music into lush, dark, velvety depths, with the help of Barbara Trentalange's deep, ghostly voice...
Ink19, Sept. 2001
Barbara Trentalange's vocals float over the chords effortlessly and gracefully, soft as silk, deep as snow.
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ALBUM
Photo Album of Complex Relationships
CATALOG NUMBER
CT1004
RELEASE DATE
October 3, 2006
CONTACT
Coco Tauro Records
info@cocotauro.com
1463 E. Republican Suite #196
Seattle, WA 98112
TOUR DATES
Fall 2006
WEBSITE
trentalangemusic.com
www.myspace.com/trentalange
GENRE
Gothic EMO Shoegazing
COMPARISONS
Pink Floyd meets Brian Eno
Peter Gabriel
Stereolab
MP3's
Lonely Land
TRACK LISTING (* Stand Out Tracks)
* Boxer's Wife
* Lonely Land
Closely Sadly
In the Ground
* Monster
The Motion
* Take Me Home
Venus
Stand Alone
Rabbit
Sweetheart
* Donna's Gonna Crack
