Artist: Babylonia
Title: Motel La Solitude
In brief: Well-produced electronic rock/pop from Italy, obviously influenced by DepMode
I don’t remember exactly where and how I first bumped into Babylonia. I probably heard their rather fantastic single “(If U Want) My Love” which spurred me into blind-buying their first album “Later Tonight v2.0″ from a German online retailer. I enjoyed the album immensely, especially “A Spreading Infection”, one of the v2.0’s extra tracks which was noticeably harder-hitting than the rest of the rather poppy, at times bordering on cheesy, album. In fact, it made such an impression on me that I had to contact the band.
To my surprise, I got a reply. It was from Massimo ‘Max’ Giunta, band’s singer/songwriter/producer, who told me “A Spreading Infection” is a sign of things to come; their next album would be “harder” in style. At the time I welcomed the news.
Some years passed, during which I gently ribbed Max a few times about the album’s slow progression. Now, four years after “Later Tonight”, Babylonia has finally released their second album, “Motel La Solitude”.
Firstly, a word of warning to Babylonia fans: “Motel La Solitude” is almost nothing like the first album. Babylonia has matured considerably in many ways. The production is slicker and more sophisticated, lyrics more polished and grammatically more correct (if pop lyrics can be expected to adhere to grammar) and Max’s vocals show a level of nuance and emotion I wasn’t expecting.
Max’s voice really deserves a paragraph of its own. He’s got one of those voices that comes out sounding completely effortless and natural; hearing him sing gives the impression that he must’ve recorded all his vocals in only one or two takes – no more was needed to achieve perfection. His range is pretty good as well; for best demonstration check out track #4, “Beautiful Losers”. It has a few very Erasure-ish bridges where Max’s glissando channels Andy Bell rather remarkably. The vocals also contain numerous examples of rather brilliant emoting, ranging from pain and anguish to joy. There are a couple of instances where the emotion comes across maybe a bit too strongly for some, but to me it’s all a very welcome change from the dry and impersonal style so common in mainstream pop music.
While Babylonia has matured, the change is not all good. I make no bones about being whole-heartedly into electronic music and having a very refined (“limited”, “narrow” and “prejudiced”, say others) taste in music. I abhor the sound of mostly unprocessed acoustic drums and especially the thrice-damned distorted guitar, screeching away like a tortured pussycat from hell.
Bear with me here for a moment.
You see, Babylonia are fans of Depeche Mode. Like so many artists around the world, they fell in love with electronic music during DM’s Golden Era; the time when DM used electronics as a tool, instead of a gimmick or an empty promise to lure their disillusioned fans back into the fold. As so often happens, the artist begins his/her/their career by emulating Depeche Mode and throughout the years they slowly find their own voice and sound.
Babylonia has a sound of their own, certainly, but they are still following their idols’ musical footsteps by embracing their inner rockstars and bringing a variety of rock elements to the foreground. It might be they are not doing this intentionally but subconsciously. The result, whatever the motivation, is the same.
There’s a reason I classified this album’s genre as “Electronic pop/rock” instead of “Electronic pop” or “Synthpop”. Some tracks are rife with traditional rock’n'roll elements dominating the soundscape, only momentarily taking a backseat to give synths some room to breathe. I’m not saying there aren’t plenty of warm pads, arpeggios and synthlines to enjoy on this album – there certainly are. But Babylonia’s new harder, rockier sound is treading a thin line between electronic music with guitars and rock music with synths. For the most part they pull it off successfully.
Putting my complaints about guitars etc. aside for a moment, I actually liked the album quite a lot. It’s a more cohesive whole than the first album, the quality of song writing is better on average and it’s obvious Babylonia has invested a lot of time in the production and mixing of the album, polishing it to sonical perfection. There’s no shortage of nice chord changes, cool vocal arrangements, strong rhythms or impressive synth sounds here either.
But, like all albums, this one has its hits and misses. It appears to suffer from a lack of obvious hit singles, ones that grab you right away and refuse to let go. There are times when production and arrangement go over the top and choke the life out of an otherwise fine refrain. And, let’s face it, a couple of tracks are swinging a set of hooks so blunt you’ll be forgiven for missing the refrain entirely.
I’ll leave you with some random thoughts written down while listening to the album.
01. A Feeling without a Feeling: Nice intro, followed by a rather basic electro rock beat. Hard to get a proper impression of the whole, structure feels messy. Chorus doesn’t grab me. Not the best possible track to open an album with.
02. The Corner: Starts off with a very DM-ish guitar arrangement. Heavy bass kick and oh yeah, here comes the distorted guitar. A rumbling monster of a track, with Kraftwerkian snaps and three-note arpeggios thrown in. Moody verse opens up to a brighter refrain which falls a bit flat.
03. By My Side: First single from the album and a good choice for a single release. Has the catchiest chorus by far. Very sing-along refrain gets a nice lift from the preceding bridge. One of the best tracks of the album, easily.
04. Beautiful Losers: Nice intro with some synths in the background with distinct vocals on top. Striking difference in tone between parts, like they’re from two totally separate songs. Did I miss the chorus? … Is that Andy Bell?
05. Better Days: More Andy Bell! Very smooth and poppy mid-tempo track that sounds like it could’ve been done by Erasure.
06. Ethereal Connection: Personal Jesus! Oh come on, it’s even got the tickity-tick percussion. It’s not a rip-off really, more of a loving tip of the hat to PJ. This one flows smoothly and switches over to basic 4/4 rhythm for some sections.
07. Myself Into Myself: Ooh, a lovely little 8-note synth melody between vocal bits, this brings back fond memories. Remember when DM used to have distinctive synth melodies, themes, in their songs, like the one in Strangelove? What’s happened to those? Anyway, this could have been a single but I fear the refrain is not strong enough.
08. Requiem For Me: Mid-tempo, ballad-y verses, chorus gets an injection of energy, plenty of nice percussion in the background. Quite a beautiful track, in fact.
09. Soundtrack for an End: Wow, starts with a soundscape that brings to mind Some Great Reward, all echoing with a metallic harpsichord on top. Nice vocal choruses and arpeggios in the background, beautifully warm and low-key refrain. Lovely vocal production throughout.
10. Enough is Enough: Piano-backed ballad, this album’s “Somebody”.
11. Love Not For Me: Starts with a build-up of strings, followed by a rather heavy drum beat, filled out with synths bleeping and blooping. Verse has familiar-sounding synths drifting in and out, it’s all very SOFAD/Ultra, somber and serious. Very nice bridge turns out to be part of the refrain which goes nowhere but sounds very lush doing that.
12. Camera con Vista: Instrumental filler.
13. Waiting for a Sun: Another ballad. Not my cup of tea.
14. Runner in the Night: Long intro exploding into an uptempo banger with a strong 4/4 beat. Aggressive bassline pours more fuel on the fire. Those damn guitars are back with a vengeance. Long stretches of instrumental idling. Hang on, is there really only one verse, followed by several repeats of the refrain?
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Songs: 
Production/mixing/audio quality: 
Release date: January 2010
Genre: Electronic pop/rock
Label: Halidon
Review source: CD 16-bit/44kHz
Links: Official Babylonia website
Links: MySpace