Hrsta - L'eclat du Ciel Etait Insoutenable
(Fancy)
Like Calexico, the Black Heart Procession, and Rollerball, Hrsta create pastoral Western soundscapes full of blowing winds and majestic, barren plains. Likewise, Hrsta does not limit themselves to instrumental music, guitarist Moya adding powerful, cabaret-style vocals to the more spare, standard arrangements.
Moya's gritty, deep voice has a visceral quality that can transcend its limitations and make it compelling. However, that quality is only really felt when Moya is singing at full power. When vocals are added to slower songs, the music drags. For instance, "Silver Planes" is almost a cappella as Moya sings in a near whisper about planes of war and crumbling buildings. Time seems to stand still, but not in an affecting, powerful way, but in a drab, vacuous way.
The vocals are better used in less hushed arrangements, like "Lime Kiln." Much like a Rollerball song, the music rumbles forward like wagons on a wagon trail, Moya's vocals giving the song an overt cabaret feel. While the power of Moya's voice does give the songs a personality and tone, Hrsta's music is much more substantial and provocative when it is entirely instrumental. In these cases, standard song structures are thrown out, letting the band take freer forms and create more ambitious arrangements.
The styles of these arrangements vary greatly. Songs like "City of Gold" are beautiful compositions done in traditional styles, much like Calexico's odes to mariachi music. Organ and melodica create stirring, old time melodies while a singing saw adds Southwestern ambience. "Jakominplatz" and "Don't Let the Angels Fall," on the other hand, are abstract, eerie soundscapes—equally evocative but in an entirely different way.
The title track and "Novi Beograd" create wonderful instrumental bookends to the album, the title track beginning the album with a tense, ominous guitar part surrounded by trembling, ominous sounds and "Novi Beograd" ending the album with a beautiful wash of color that eventually decomposes into sheer aural terror. These wonderful moods the band can create are perhaps more powerful than any imagery the singer manages to relate.
Hrsta's music is evocative and arty. While this artiness can fall into pretentiousness, the music manages to stay alive, the depth of the music and its dark and eerie mood creating a listening experience that only grows more compelling over time.
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