Alpha: The Impossible Thrill : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Melodrama can make for good music. And Alpha knows that. This Bristol-based duo, like their local compadres Massive Attack and Portishead, create atmospheric mood pieces that are as classically pop as they are up-to-the minute electronica-based, full of strings, mournful chords and dramatic vocals. The tracks here stagger along, loaded down with regret, heartbreak and melancholy -- "It's raining/My mood is gray" goes a typical lyric -- but somehow sound cathartic and mesmerizing rather than simpering or whiny. Three different singers make appearances (ranging from Wendy Stubbs, who sounds a bit like the Cardigans' Nina Persson, to Martin Barnard, who's more of a David Sylvain/Ben Watt crooner) but the tone doesn't waver. Throughout, this is sad stuff, just the thing to have on hand for the next breakup or lingering bout of depression. Cheers! (ERIK PEDERSEN)