Review by Karen Anderson
Elliott is a very interesting group.
Using a blend of emo, rock, and classical, they make a unique and very
pleasant sound. Song in the Air is a very tranquil and haunting
CD. It’s like a big lullaby, but not at all boring. The music
is constantly drifting up and down, going from slow to fast. A great
CD for when you just want to relax.
Chris Higdon’s voice is very soft and he sings at a slow pace.
His voice is high enough to be distinguished from the instrumentals,
which adds another layer to the already rich songs. At times it can
be rather hard to understand what Chris is singing though with exception
to some of the choruses. Usually I’d find it annoying not being
able to understand what is being sung, but in this case it doesn’t
bother me at all.
Reading the lyrics curiously, I find them to be very vague. For the
most part they are pretty simply worded and seem to use nature and painting
as the source of main inspirations. I find the line, is your faith
a bird in darkness?, in the song “Blue Storm” to be
poetic and thought provoking however. Overall Elliott uses simplicity
to create beautiful imagery.
The many different instruments used in the album blend together nicely.
The distorted guitar, the bass, and the drums add a bit of rock to the
otherwise mellow sounds. The drumbeats are catchy and lots of cymbals
are used. It is really the string instruments though that make Song
in the Air what it is. The two violins, the viola, and the cello
bring a very soothing and melodic sound while the keys cover the middle
ground. All of these instruments mesh together so well allowing this
CD to really keep things interesting.
I am sad to learn that this is Elliott’s last work.