Keening – The Yellow Portal (Album – Icy Cold Records)
Genre/Influences: Dream-Pop, Wave-Pop.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Last year Marc Atkinson (previously involved with The Raudive) released the EP “Erase” as an appetizer to this debut album.
Icy Cold Records released “The Yellow Portal” as a limited CD album in 2022, with Italian distributor Audioglobe handling the physical edition.
Content: Among the ten songs of the album you’ll re-discover the 3 EP-songs. Keening moves on exploring sugar-coated Wave/Dream-Pop compositions. Most of the songs are pretty long, composed with mainly guitar and electronic arrangements with sweet vocals on top.
+ + + : The dreamy sensation of the composition might lead you in trance. The most noticeable cuts are the familiar “Erase” and “Silence Is Golden”.
– – – : The songs are pretty long and without that much variety. The composition becomes rapidly predictable and the monotonous production of the vocals create a soporific effect.
Conclusion: This work is a rather disappointing production missing passion and any kind of climax.
Best songs: “Erase”, “Silence Is Golden”.
Rate: 5.
Artist: www.facebook.com/thekeening
Label: www.facebook.com/icycoldrecords
About Keening
Keening is the project of Marc Atkinson, who lists cold wave, post-punk and electronic shoegaze as its reference points. The name comes from the Gaelic and refers to the tradition of vocal laments for the dead.
Atkinson previously played in The Raudive, a band from Norwich in the United Kingdom working in UK goth, new wave and post-punk. The Raudive self-released the CDr “Ghost Box” in 2009 and issued “Future Transmissions” digitally in 2016, followed by a limited CD edition on Unknown Pleasures Records in 2017.
“The Yellow Portal” is the first Keening album, released by Icy Cold Records in 2022 after the “Erase” EP. Dark Liberation Records released the follow-up album “James Francis Diaries” digitally in 2024. Neither Keening nor The Raudive has a Wikipedia entry, and the discography information available comes from label and Discogs listings.
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