Chantal Acda - The Sparkle in Our Flaws

  by John Clarkson

published: 25 / 11 / 2015

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Review

When listening to Chantal Acda’s second solo album ‘The Sparkle in Our Flaws’, one is reminded of Talk Talk’s last two albums and the 1998 eponymous solo album of its founder Mark Hollis. It comes from a similar school of orchestral minimalism. Acda’s stark, softly cascading piano and her glorious, celestial vocals are the principal instruments. Around these float occasional backing vocals, light touches of strings, guitar and synths, and at one point a briefly pealing trumpet. Nothing is out of place on ‘The Sparkle in Our Flaws’ and every note counts for an enormous amount on this most holistic, beautiful of albums. Acda’s trio of albums with her previous project Sleepingdog were insular, introverted records. ‘The Sparkle in Our Flaws’, Dutch-born Acda’s first album to be recorded outside Europe, have a similar brooding thoughtfulness, but is both about accepting yours and others flaws and also stepping back into the world after a self-enforced absence from it. When Acda sings on the title and central track, “I would save air for you/Breathe the same air,” it is genuinely moving as it is heartening. Quite simply one of the most beautiful, life-affirming albums of the year.

Track Listing:-

1 Homes
2 Everything and Everyone
3 Games
4 The Other Way
5 The Sparkle in Our Flaws
6 Up and Down
7 Minor Places
8 Still We Guess
9 Arms Up High (Live in Hannover) [feat. Peter Broderick]
10 The Other Way (Live in Dresden) [feat. Peter Broderick]

Band Links:-

http://www.chantalacda.com/
https://www.facebook.com/chantalacdamu
https://www.twitter.com/chantalacda
https://www.youtube.com/user/chantalsl
http://chantalacda.bandcamp.com/

Label Links:-

http://label.glitterhouse.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GlitterhouseR
https://twitter.com/glitterhouserec
https://www.youtube.com/user/Glitterho