Album Notes

This sophomore release from Venus Mission is getting great radio exposure in the tri-state area and garnering good reviews as well. Mike Breen of Cincinnati's City Beat wrote the following review of "Love Me Back Alive" in the October 12th issue of Citybeat magazine: For "Love Me Back Alive" Rosenthal enlisted two of the area's more celebrated knob-twidlers, John Curley (who engineered live full-band sessions) and Ric Hordinski (who co-produced with Rosenthal). The first collaboration between the studio magicians creates a fitting dichotomy: Just as Rosenthal's songs (which feature a couple of co-writers) blur the lines between the celestial and the organic, the production has a lively, driving underbelly splattered with an atmospheric magnetism. With often biting, empowering lyrics of redemption out of sorrow, Rosenthal and her co-conspirators paint sweeping, emotionally self-reflective tracks with a variety of textures and engaging, creative nuances, from echoing guitars and spacious, almost psychedelic effects to jarring guest spots from singer/poetess Abiyah and rapper Swift. The recordists and quality sessioneers recruited to play on the album bring Rosenthal's songs to life, but without the ornamentation the tunes would still stand up fairly well (though they'd tend toward a much more "Adult Contemporary" corner of the room). Rosenthal's airy yet pointedly expressive voice is uniquely effervescent, but it's also one of those love it/hate it kind of vocal styles. Standouts on the album (the ones where everything clicks at once) include "Girls of Virtue," a rolling, minor-key dirge that's the best written cut on the disc, and "I Want You," which features snake-charmer guitar and a defiantly abrupt, popcorn-bass-buoyed chorus. Occasionally, the songwriting doesn't stand up to encasement, but for the most part Love definitely holds up as Rosenthal's finest recording so far. Go to venusmission.com for more details