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Reviews:
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Album
: Debris
Review
by: Carl J. of Regen Magazine
(January, 2004)
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This debut from Ayria
unites the talents of Jennifer Parkin (ex-Epsilon Minus) and Glis frontman
Shaun Frandsen. If you're into either of the above-mentioned bands then
this should do you just right, too.
What makes this album
such a success is the quality of the songwriting that is second to none
throughout, displaying a knack of mixing commerical synthpop with harder
EBM elements. It combines sometimes bittersweet lyrics with more spritely
melodics along with an eye for the unexpected that many more established
acts should be envious of. All of this means that the music never falls
into the trap of commercial mediocrity and stands the test of repeat
listenings. In fact, speaking from a personal viewpoint the more I listen
to it the more I like it as the hard work which must have gone into each
number pays dividends time and time again.
You could name any number
of acts as influences or pointers but with winning tracks such as the
stompy opening blast that is "Dos," the playful techno of
"Red Shift" and the club smashes-to-be "Horrible
Dream" and the trancey "Substance," it hardly matters.
Haujobb's Daniel Meyer lends his talents to "Mercury," which
impresses through a potent blend of moody tones and big beats while DJ Ram
and Delobbo help out on "Had Something" and "Sapphire"
respectively.
While Parkin's vocals
lack the deeper timbre of certain other vocalists, her sometimes girly
delivery proves rather versatile. She effortlessly brings out the full
emotion of the more heartfelt tracks "The Radio" and the
beautifully-titled closer "Kiss Me Goodnight As I'm Falling
Asleep," although, as her defiant no-nonsense delivery on the
title track shows, she's not to be messed with. Oh, she may look like
butter wouldn't melt but beware, this pussycat bites!
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Album : Debris
Review by : Jet of Vampire Freaks
(December 2003)
This is the new project from Jennifer Parkin of Epsilon Minus. She does
vocals on all the tracks, and the music on most of the tracks is done by Shaun
Frandsen of Glis, although the music on a few of the tracks are done by other
musicians, such as Iris, Massiv In Mensch, and DJ RAM. I've been a big fan of
Jennifer's work on Epsilon Minus, and she also did some guest vocals for
Implant. This is by far her best work to date. Shaun does a great job on the
music, consisting of mostly high tempo EBM, although there are a few slower
tracks. This has been one of my favorite CD's lately, and I've been giving it
lots of club play here in NYC. My personal favorite track is "Dos",
it's fast paced at about 140 bpm, its a great club track. "Start
Again" is another track I like to play when I DJ. Overall, I love the whole
album. The song "Horrible Dream" does get a little bit cheesy with the
repetitive chorus, but even that track gets catchy after hearing it a few times.
Slower tracks like "The Radio" , "Sapphire" and "Beta
Complex" are really great and a nice change of pace from the EBM tracks
geared towards club play. It's nice that there's a lot of variety in this album,
each song has its own unique sound. Jennifer Parkin has the most amazing voice
in the industrial scene. Not only that, but she's uber HOT. Seriously, how many
good industrial / ebm bands out there actually have a hot singer? Not too many
at all. The music is really great regardless of her looks though. Shaun is also
a very talented musician, his work on Glis is great, and he did a great job on
this album. I do anticipate Ayria to be really popular in the near future, and
in fact, this album has reached the number 10 spot in the coveted German DAC
charts.
rating: 9 out of 10
Album : Debris
Review by : DJ Erik Dekadance (December, 2003)
I had no idea who the hell was in this band and what
they sounded like when I picked this CD up. As is often the case with
import CDs, I had to rely on my extensive knowledge of import labels to
guide me. Since Ayria is on Alfa Matrix, I figured it was worth a shot.
My instincts, as usual, were correct! Very cool CD! Ayria features
Jennifer Parkin, formerly of Epsilon Minus, on vocals, and Shaun
Frandsen, who has his own project on Alfa Matrix called Glis, on
keyboards. As a matter of fact, Jennifer Parkin made a guest vocal
appearance on the last Glis CD, entitled "Balance". Ayria's sound is
very "clubby", dance floor friendly synthpop. This is a CD that just
about any fan of synth music can get into. Solid songwriting, great
keyboard work by Shaun, and the very alluring vocals of Jennifer, great
stuff! Added bonus, Jennifer Parkin is pretty easy on the peepers as
well. ; )
Album : Debris Limited 2 CD Edition
Review by : Jason Baker of Synthpop.Net
(May, 2004)
This is the debut album for the Ayria project, formed after Bogart Shadawick
and Jennifer Parkin mutually decided to end her involvement in the Epsilon Minus
program. Jennifer Parkin then began collaborating with the members of Glis,
writing and compsing new music for her post-Epsilon Minus musical project. This
collaboration resulted in the debut album in 2003 for the Ayria,
"Debris". Though reading through the booklet won't clue you into it,
there is one caveat for those listening. There is a liberal dose of "colofdul
metaphors" in one track here, which earned it the Explicit Lyrics label on
amazon.com. Though the booklet doesn't include that part of the song (apparently
those parts of the song were added at the last minute), there is some rather
liberal use of the f-bomb in the track "Debris". That's the only track
in which the profanity crops up, as far as I could tell. As readers of this site
will know, I've always been of the view that profanity isn't really necessary.
That still holds true, and I could really enjoy this song were it not for this
element. But it's the only song with that type content, so once you get past
that, the album is smooth sailing.
Anyway, to get back to the album, it features 13 tracks, most of which were
musically produced by Shaun Franson of Glis, but there were other contributions.
Daniel Myer of Haujobb contributed to "Mercury", "Had
Something" features contributions of DJ Ram, "Sapphire" also has
Delobbo contributing musically, "Substance" features the music of one
member of Massiv In Mensch, and "Beta Complex" even features the music
of Iris! The limited edition of this album includes a bonus remix disc, as well
as postcards, patches, and several small other promotional items. The remix disc
has a very diverse lineup as well, with Armageddon Dildos, XP8, Boole, Implant,
Namnambulu and V01D all contributing remixes to the second disc.
One thing you'll notice right off after listening to this album is the
undercurrent of dissatisfaction. There's a lot of anger, hurt, bitterness,
regret, sadness and dependency. Or in short, there are a lot of deeply emotional
issues explored here. However, the album doesn't come across as whining or angst
merely for the sake of angst.. but as genuine issues and feelings that Jennifer
Parkin has been going through. The music itself is a reflection of those
emotions in the songs, with a dark, intense, edgy sound that shows the
influences of EBM, Industrial, and Electro along with pop roots that seem to be
hard-wired into all of her music.
"Horrible Dream" is the first track that really jumped out to me on
the album. The chorus is simple, sing-a-longable, and memorable. Song of the
remixes on the second disc really accent the dancefloor aspect of this song, and
I can easily understand why.. there's some really cool synth loops and beats
here that make this song a tailor-made club track. "The Radio" grabbed
me right off, with a really cool synth sound and percussion in the intro, and
while the slower pace of the song took me a little by surprise, but it's still a
great track.
"Red Shift" is the first track to utilize heavy vocal processing, and
while it lends a more electro flavor to the song, I still prefer Jennifer's
vocals unprocessed. Still, it's another very good, very clubby track.
"Disease" is another exceptional track, some of the lyrical imagery is
a little intense ("sweet tasting rabies"), but it's still a cool
popsong. "Beta Complex", the collaboration with Iris, will surely be
of interest to synthpop fans, as it finds Iris showing a little more EBM
friendly side than what we are used to.
Moving on to the remix disc, Armageddon Dildos start of the disc in great
fashion with a rally good laid-back midtempo mix of "Disease".
Namnambulu and Boole both give a more synthpoppy/ futurepop fell to the track,
and I enjoyed them both. XP8 contribute a really cool synth-poppy club friendly
mix of "Substance". Glis and Accessory both remixed "Horrible
Dream", and while both accentuate the club atmosphere of the original, I
found the Accessory mix to be the more enjoyable of the two (though both were
very good). XPQ-21 also remixed "Horrible Dream", but I wasn't as
impressed with that remix. Of the remaining remixes Interface remixed "Had
Something" into a pretty enjoyable form, but other than that the remaining
remixes didn't impress me all that much.
In essence, I would recommend you pick up the regular version of the Ayria album
first. If you absolutely love the album, then the Limited edition will be worth
picking up. You can find sound samples at the Alfa-matrix website or at Ayria's
site. I would recommend checking those out first, but if you enjoy what you hear
there, you'll enjoy the album as well.
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