A Whisper Montana

The trio of Chirleison hails from the Mediterraneanisland of Sardinia off the coast of Italy, and the sound of theirmusic is as exotic as the sound of their homeland. AWhisper, Chirleison's debut, is an intoxicating concoction ofancient Italian/Mediterranean neo-folk blended with surrealism andmodern goth-pop with evangelical influences.

Singer Alessia Cicala, who has sung in threelanguages -- English, French, and Italian -- on this album, hasvocals that mix melancholy with hope in a soothingly scary way,invoking deep musings and a weird sense of positivism into thedepressed and the deceased, and her flute playing provides an extratouch of mysterious allure to her singing. Guitarist DanieleSerra's acoustic six-strings provide the backbone and melody toevery track. Simple and elegant, Serra's chords are pretty much asubstitute for drums and bass on this record. Keyboardist Mara Lasicompletes the music with her share of gothic ambient backdrop andeffects.

A Whisper is not one of those albums that can beconventionally put under any genre; its ambiguity demands patienceand a lot of attentive listening. This album is all about subtlety.The music, though simple, is so deeply interwoven that it takessome intense listening to decipher and savor its constitutingflavors.

In spite of its melody-driven nature, the disc is notsomething that would catch immediate attention. The slow andbrooding music, for instance, has no conventionaldrumming/percussion. With the exception of a couple of tracks hereand there, the only discernible percussion present on this album isin the form of subtle sound effects that blend in with theatmospherics of the music.