Bones’n’Stones the compelling new album from Teika & The Raw Beat, a band led by the riveting songwriting of Berlin-based artist Mateja Kert. Poetic lyrical displays meld with a range of sweepingly beautiful orchestral arrangements, alt-rock foreboding, and art-folk charm. Abundant in mood and sincerity, the album’s production stirs in its dynamic range and tendency for satiating structural and thematic evolutions.
Opening the album, its title track is a gorgeously emotive success — propelled by heartrending strings, stately piano, and an introspective vocal immersion. “By day I shine bright, by night they ignite, stories unfold…” the vocals let out with enjoyable mystique, weaving into warming brass complements. The lyrics artfully capture the climb out of uncertainty, a state often invoked by a bombardment of opinions. Radiant orchestral qualities linger past the mid-point, culminating in a piano-laden reminder that “it’s alright,” to feel a myriad of emotions, particularly when feeling blue.
Another standout track, “Ragged Plumes” develops from minimalist pit-pattering into a darkly riveting vocal ascension, declaring: “We are flying on ragged plumes / Flying, although we are burning through / No one to win, no one to lose.” Buzzing effects, cinematic percussive stomps, and eerie piano complement a foreboding vocal feeling thereafter, delivering a lyrical captivation that, per Kert, serves as “a commentary of the dangers of giving oneself over to apocalyptic notions and the loss of human empathy which this may bring along.” Further quality songwriting shines on “Falling In Love,” maneuvering from more understated piano-set balladry into an outpouring of impassioned strings and intensified vocals. Bones’n’Stones is an enveloping listening experience, from start to finish.
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“Bones’n’Stones” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
