Parentheses Of Antitheses (Pandora Or The Unbending Dualism In Me)

Quiet restraint in one moment, powerful intensity in the next – emotions crowd densely on Irmie Vesselsky's debut album. With the strength of her voice and enchanting piano melodies, the Lower Austrian singer/songwriter tells of her life in twelve touching songs. Irmie Vesselsky's music is varied, melancholic and powerful. It is the contrasts that move you, and which a 25-year-old can seemingly recount with effortless ease. 'It's a story of adorement, a story of bewilderment,' she laments in the melancholic opener 'The Knife', only to surrender to the dream of freedom in the rousing, hopeful 'World Without Fence'. Irmie Vesselsky leads the listener through the emotional highs and lows of life, at times tempestuous and passionate, then gentle and fragile. Soulful images are drawn just as skilfully as memorable melodies are pulled effortlessly out of her sleeve. Pared-back yet intense passages shape 'Parentheses Of Antitheses', for instance in the sorrowful 'Scorpio's Kiss', in which music and vocals nestle harmoniously against one another. Vesselsky has a particular mastery of this interplay: as though voice and piano were dancing with each other, losing sight of one another and joyfully finding their way back together. Time and again, violin passages weave their way in, performed by musician Sir Tralala. Vesselsky arranged these effects herself: subtle, but effective. This album should be enjoyed with an open heart, because: 'Beauty is a rare thing!' (Ornette Coleman)