BLIND DIVINE: Devouring the Beautiful

Blind Divine

Devouring the Beautiful

© 2005 Blind Divine (641444958627)

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Spooky, ambient, and hauntingly erotic, sultry female vocals and strange landscapes are the cure for chronic insomniacs, hypochondriacs, and patients of psychotherapy. Understated and overrated.

notes

"Blind Divine's first release bridges the fields of trip hop, art music, shoegazer and ethereal dream pop. Give this one a try if you enjoy sensually lazy female vocals and inventive downbeat instrumentation". -MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

If one could break down all the elements of Blind Divine's sound--the mix of moody beats and emotional female vocals, the pensive, sentimentality of the song writing, the sublime hooks, the romance and urbanity--but Blind Divine is more than the sum of its parts. These prolific songwriters are fresh without being self-conscious, classic without being derivative.

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The music of Blind Divine has been licensed by the following clients: MTV, VH1, A&E, Discovery Channel, History Channel, Biography Channel, Disney Channel, Sony Pictures, CMTV, Soap Network, Weather Channel, Travel Channel, Style Network, Comedy Central, Noggin, Logo, E!, WETV, Animal Planet, National Geographic, The Learning Channel, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, Bravo, Spike TV, Discovery Health Channel, Big Fish Entertainment, Venture Three, DRATFCB, Net Pickle, Inc., YES Network, and Lakeshore Records. Feature Films: Taking Lives (DVD) Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland, Gena Rowlands.

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Paula and Daniel have become producers of more than just music, they have become a production team, which have collaborated on the design and installation of the new Historic Hotel Congress “Procenium” stage, the album cover and entire CD artwork for “Payable On Death” by Atlantic Records band P.O.D., which sold over 500,000 copies, and the book design and layout for Daniel’s art books, “Triginta Uno Dies, Thirty-One Drawings In Thirty-One Days” and “Mysterium Fidei,” published by La Luz de Jesus Press and Last Gasp.

reviews

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  • Hauntingly Beautiful
    author: Mario Gomez

    I love your songs. So deep, dark, and hauntingly beautiful.

  • BEAUTIFUL
    author: Melin

    A beautiful, moving CD - love it!!!

  • "...a rich, deep blend of styles that is nothing short of beautiful"
    author: Pat Suleski

    In the course of being an insatiable music fan, I oftentimes find myself looking in the deepest corners of the Internet for a sound that moves me a certain way. For the most part, this is for my own enjoyment, since my personal musical preferences lay a good ways out of the mainstream. But just this once, I came across a band that has a fantastic sound, and is not only capable of having mainstream success but would go a long way to renew my faith in popular music. The band’s name is Blind Divine, and you may have heard their music. The name not ringing any bells? The music has been licensed for use on VH1 and MTV, the soundtrack for indie flick “Orphans and Angels,” and the DVD release of mainstream film "Taking Lives.” Blind Divine is best described as “trip-hop,” which is characterized by a blend of simple hip-hop rhythms and relaxing, generally female, vocals. Blind Divine is unique, however, in that they add influences ranging from electronica, to classical, to Tori Amos, making for a rich, deep blend of styles that is nothing short of beautiful. I was lucky enough to get in contact with the band for an interview: PS - If you had to describe your sound, what would you say? BD - When you break down our sound we are coming from more of a classical approach. The chord progressions and voice leading are really quite traditional. The element that changes the style to a trip-hop or alternative sound is the arrangements. Our live sound is different from our studio sound, which keeps it interesting. Those that have heard both have expressed that there is a common thread that runs through both sounds. As far as the mood that we create, one can say it is spooky, ambient, and hauntingly erotic, with sultry female vocals and strange landscapes- a cure for chronic insomniacs, hypochondriacs, and patients of psychotherapy. PS - What are your main influences? BD - Portishead, Massive Attack, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Debussey, Radiohead, The Cure, Vivaldi, Air, Doves, David Sylvian, Bach, Mexican music, and 70's and 80's pop and rock records, to name a few. PS - Which do you prefer, playing live or in the studio? BD - We love writing and recording, but there is nothing quite like the energy of playing live. There is a euphoric feeling when you are creating, which we do while we are recording. We try hard not to let the technical aspects of recording become too stifling. Many times it's the unrehearsed first take at three in the morning that is the most real, so we keep it. With playing live there is always only one shot so you have to give it your best every time, which creates a sort of electrified anxiety. It's always exciting. PS - One of the interesting characteristics of the band, as you listen, is how the vocals are so smooth that after awhile you generally forget to be listening for words, and more for sounds and ambiance. This is a characteristic most commonly associated with English shoe-gazers My Bloody Valentine, and makes for a refreshing diversion from traditional lyricism. Are your lyrics there to be analyzed and considered, or are they simply words strategically placed to convey a mood? BD - I think bands such as My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins changed the way lyrics were written and sung. They opened up a new world in which words could be more of a texture or aesthetic. There were a great influence on me and changed the way I write and think about lyrics. They gave me another possibility of either writing traditionally or writing from more of an instrumental perspective and melding into the music. Hopefully, my lyrics not only convey a mood, but also may also be analyzed and considered. They are both deeply felt and subconsciously derived, and are very personal. While this blend of two radically different lyrical styles sounds near impossible to pull off on paper, the fact of the matter is that the average listener who is looking only for music will find the sounds to flow more smoothly than the average radio fare, while writers, poets, and those of us that enjoy singing along will find deep, at times heart-wrenching words that will more than satisfy. PS - It stands to be included that trip-hop is generally an electronic genre, drum machines and synthesizers are usually taken over traditional instruments. In fact, trip-hop in it’s purest form may simply be the natural continuation of 80s synth-pop, blending with the hip-hop and darker rock elements that came to the forefront of the music scene during the early to mid 90s. However, with Blind Divine, more traditional instrumentation is used, including a real, live drummer! Your music is live input recorded, how do you feel about sequencers, looping parts, and the like? BD - We prefer to record keyboards, bass, and guitars live, although we may loop drumbeats and sections of those live tracks. Sometimes computerized sequencers can have a mechanical feel, plus it is much quicker to record live than spend the time programming a sequencer. We would rather spend more time on the inspiration of the song and less time on the technical aspects. Ten to fifteen minutes can kill the moment.

  • Lovely
    author: Sofia

    This CD is really good. The music, the lyrics and the vocals are just great. It sounds professional but with a lot of passion. A big star for the beautiful CD cover.

  • Thanks for making music that matters.
    author: Art Brainz

    The group Blind Divine have some serious talent. This is not easy listening for punk rockers & gothic music freaks alike...this is definately something different...there is something new and exiting going on here and I am not affraid to admit it. Luscious melodies, swirling and subtle ambience, and beautifully crafted lyrics coupled with near perfect vocal deliveries over down-tempo'ish beats all layered with amazing piano and similar sounds really drive it all home. Nothing to rock out to, but that's OK, because sometimes you need to just slow down and contemplate where it is that life is trying to take you. Thanks for making music that matters.

  • 23 introspective songs that each bears a sadness incarnated through the beautifu
    author: Jean-Francois Fecteau (radio show "Le Vestibule")

    A lonely night, in a dark cabaret where cigarette smoke uncovers the secrecy of sinners in a sultry rumor... That seems to be the scenery exposed by Blind Divine on their album "Devouring The Beautiful". Twenty-three introspective songs that each bears a sadness incarnated through the beautiful voice of Paula Catherine Valencia. The sound of her voice is sensually flowing and delicately whispering as the music slowly floats, surrounding her words with its downtempo rhythms that lead the soft melodies in a bleak fragility of textures and sonorities. Waves of synthetic and organic arrangements melt together to create music with a unique warmth and depth that gradually reveals the somber paths to glimpse at beauty.

  • Arizona's Blind Divine shine on Devouring the Beautiful.
    author: Grave Concerns "Your Underground Music Resource"

    With a history that contains a number of fairly impressive licensing deals for both film and television, Arizona's Blind Divine shine on Devouring the Beautiful. Compiling a whopping 23 tracks (nearly 78 minutes) culled from their recording career, including half a dozen tracks from the feature film Orphans and Angels, the band's proper CD debut blends sultry trip-hop and mellow, moody rock with ethereal overtones. Fronted by the sensual and melodically interesting breathy vocal work of Paula Catherine Valencia, the band's sound is anchored by multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Daniel Martin Diaz with a few additional musicians lending their talents. The disc as a whole, while varying somewhat stylistically, is exceptionally sonically consistent. Highlights here include the spectacular opener, "Something Magical", and "Sometime Soon", perhaps the disc's most radio-friendly offering featuring a particularly emotional and memorable chorus. The brief moody trip-hop of "Never Say Goodbye", the semi-ethereal and melodically lovely "Thief", the spectacular reverb-drenched "Just to be with You", and the slightly dissonant production of "Confession" stand out, as well. The bass-heavy, sonically dense and chaotic "Honeysuckle Vines" and the beautiful "Darling" are also noteworthy, despite the latter having but one single repeated verse. A few other tracks stand out largely for straying from the album's sonic formula. "Home" throws a bit of lounge jazz saxophone into its ethereal trip-hop dub frame. "Angels Have Wings" is a nice, percussion-less acoustic guitar based ethereal rock track that, perhaps, recalls Love Spirals Downwards. The disc's two closing tracks are also, notably, instrumentals, with "On Phone" being a piano-centered ethereal piece and "Revelations" an airy, haunting ambient wash. Sometimes recalling artists like Massive Attack, Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, and Tori Amos and at other times slightly reminiscent of Akira Yamaoka's work from the later Silent Hill soundtracks, Blind Divine's Devouring the Beautiful is a lovely outing with careful attention paid to sonic elements and production. Fans of the aforementioned artists or moody ethereal trip-hop in general will likely find this cohesive compilation exceptionally strong and worthwhile with both mainstream and underground appeal.

  • Enjoyable listening and thought provoking, a great collection.
    author: Charles Patterson

    Blind Divine's first commercial release, Devouring the Beautiful, is a great collection of their music, displaying a wide variety of their musical range, as well as showcasing their considerable talent. The album contains 23 songs and comes with 2 art cards created by Daniel Martin Diaz. Paula's vocals are as moving as her lyrics are thoughtful. While not overtly religious in nature, the songs are not entirely secular, with images of divinity floating throughout. The music is transcendent, doing more than just entertaining, but dancing about the listener and drawing them into the songs. Like a work of art, their music is something that touches a part of you. The songs are more than just heard, but deeply felt, allowing you to see the beautiful imagery they describe.

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