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Album Details

• Artist: Bela Karoli
• Album: Furnished Rooms
• Label: Helmet Room
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2008-01-22

Denver’s Bela Karoli sounds like some house band from an Eastern European dive bar. It is that geographical ambiguity that fuels “Furnished Rooms.” Drawing on chamber music, electroacoustic, jazz, dark blues and a little cabaret, the band is literally all over the musical map. Among the dozen tunes are warped but brooding covers of “Summertime” and “Old Man River,” as well as a stab at an Emily Dickinson poem. With vocals that recall the endless depth of Bjork on an inspired day, original tracks like “Carnage” and “String of Lights” seem light as air on the surface, but beware the power underneath. You could almost call this a pop record, but there that power beneath the simple arrangements and haunting female vocals is fueled by dread. For proof, a deep listening to “Psychosomatic,” “Metal Body” and “Margin” ought to cure any confusion. With “Furnished Rooms,” Bela Karoli manage to stun and lull. They straddle the light and dark with ease, creating the tension between the two that makes for the best music. This is no upper, but is full of other rewards.

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