Cranekiss

I'm new to Tamaryn but my immediate impression is that this is a very competent and sure-footed move away from earlier "shoegazer" releases. I'd describe as pleasantly reminiscent of Hooverphonic and Bel Canto -- but Cranekiss doesn't feel dated at all. A bonus is that this feel like a real ALBUM. Truly enjoyable from start to finish.

Better than what I expected. I love her earlier albums and wasn't expecting to like this one. It's worth getting and listening to...a lot of the songs are really good.

Not bad at all, great electro music

Newgaze (new shoegaze) music at its best

Good, not great. Saw Tamaryn on KEXP sort of implicitly throwing shade (it seemed to me) on Rex Shelverton and the (shoe-gazy) direction he had brought to the last two discs (I saw some longwinded review on amazon saying Rex is part of this version - he ain't. I saw that incarnation's farewell show at the Echo in LA - it was pretty dope). This is a more poppy incarnation, still really cool, but me, I miss the giant swirling guitars of the 1990's. Couldn't you and Rex have went to couples counseling or sumpin? Still a disc worth buying. I did.

A great album!

Tamaryn's Cranekiss is a pleasant surprise to bring in September with. It's a total pop record, but not the kind of pop record you're going to hear in heavy rotation with the likes of Drake, Taylor Swift, and Carly Rae Jespin. Not that it doesn't belong along side those radio darlings. It's just that Cranekiss is the kind of pop album you heard on the radio 30 years ago. It's the perfect mix of pop sheen and gothic shadow. Songs lusty enough to get you on the dance floor, while also ruminating enough for a darkened bedroom listen while pondering life's cruel eccentricities. This is a pop album for Winona Ryder's Lydia Deetz.The album opens with the sparkling title track, a mix of Siouxie Sioux, The Cure, and T'Pau. It's a big, spacious dance track that has enough atmosphere and nuance to give it some serious alternative street cred. "Hands All Over Me" is pretty self-explanatory. Tamaryn's partner in music is Rex John Shelverton. He builds these sonic walls for Tamaryn to let loose on, and "Hands All Over Me" is a big, fun track. "Last" brings to mind The Motels with its longing and breathy vocals. This is the kind of song that would stick in my head all day after hearing it on the bus ride to school back in 1987. Pop songs you didn't mind hearing, in-between the Rick Astleys and Taylor Daynes. "Collection" is a mix of modern day production values and old school alternative sounds. The bass is reminiscent of Head On The Door-era Cure, while Tamaryn's layered vocals bring No Joy's ethereal harmonies to mind. "Keep Calling" is a slow burn of a song. It's a wonderful collection of somber bass and vocals with some old school, reverb-drenched percussion. This track is just as much shoegaze as it is Cocteau Twins-approved dream pop.While there is plenty to put this record in the pop section of your local record store(yes, those do still exist), there's still plenty of darkness and sad-eyed, mascara running melancholy to put it somewhere between The Sisters of Mercy and This Mortal Coil. Tamaryn's wonderful vocal delivery keeps the songs from going full maudlin. The one-two punch of "Softcore" and "Fade Away Slow" reminds us that the gap between pop and alternative really isn't all that deep.Cranekiss is a wonderful, enigmatic, and engaging record. Tamaryn and Rex Jon Shelverton have made an album that could very well appeal to a wide range of fickle listeners, if only they weren't so fickle. If you grew up in the days of Siouxie Sioux, a skinnier Robert Smith, and a closeted love for pop and dance music, then Tamaryn's Cranekiss will make your autumn days that much better.

Let's be honest with ourselves,those of us who loved the elgant galactic beauty of the first two tamaryn albums cannot be pleased with this release . I once considered these guys to be not just good but the pinnical of the new shoegaze bands making music today. They had accomplished what mbv had done by making breath taking beauty from cavernous walls of reverb. Yes, you may say been done to death,but they nailed it!! I understand the gutarist departed for the most part but this is a pure unabashed stab at mor adult alternative,and not even done with the smooth panache of say,Lana del Rey. Yes I know this has always been the singer's band hence the name tamaryn,but this is a different band entirely and I for one will greatly mourn the and of the first incarnation