Fiona Brice – Postcards From – Album Review by Killian Laher

Fiona Brice is best known as cellist, violin player and string arranger for artists such as Placebo, Midlake and Anna Calvi to name but a few. Here she strikes out on her own for a first solo album. On initial listening the sparse, minimal tracks (consisting solely of violin, piano and cello, and not all at the same time) feel a little austere. Droning opener Berlin sets a wintry, forbidding tone. The piano motif of Paris is one to really sink into and wrap your arms around, and the track soars when joined 90 seconds in by a fleeting touch of violin. Dallas makes use of a brooding, plodding piano with string whines and what sounds like wailing voices filling out the sound. Elsewhere, Glastonbury and Antwerp take a completely different tack with a swirling, almost otherworldly violin. Verona is probably the most symphonic piece here, with a seamless mix of strings and piano. St Petersburg makes the most of the relationship between the place names and the music, sounding as you might imagine such a piece to sound, all scraping, marching cello and strident violin.

The one criticism of the album is that the tracks are a little brief, many of them ending without being given the chance to really develop. It might have been nice to see what Brice might have done with a longer track or a wider palette of sounds. Perhaps we’ll hear it on future work but for now, this album is very pleasant indeed.

Track List:

1. Berlin
2. Paris
3. Glastonbury
4. Dallas
5. Antwerp
6. Verona
7. St Petersburg
8. Koh Yao Noi
9. Tokyo
10. Denton

Dallas: