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Review: Jonas Carping - All the Time in the World [Album]

Self-Released // "...an album that wants to be exciting, but frankly isn't."

by SamByrd, October 2nd, 2012 and has been Read 402 times.
Last Edited by: Ffion Davies October 3rd, 2012.

All the Time in the World is an album that wants to be exciting, but frankly isn't. Jonas Carping's voice is incredibly arresting - husky, deep and rough - but the songs are written as though they expect the voice alone to carry them…and it can't. It sounds like All the Time in the World should be a concept album; the entire feel is one of a break-up in a pub. As individual songs they would be terrifically dramatic, but one after the other they just come across as ridiculous.

The album's opener, Left in Here, is easily the best song. The clear female vocals behind his are a nice juxtaposition, and the strings sound almost Celtic. It's the sort of song you'd listen to at the beginning of a train journey. Underground, sounds a little like Peter Gabriel or the Crash Test Dummies, but the desperate vocals from Left in Here just aren't as effective has here.

Unfortunately, Anything is one of, if not the worst track on the album. The lyrics are cheesy, the woodsy instruments don't even begin to make up for it, and The Sting, which follows immediately after, sounds like the same idea with a female vocalist tacked on. The two songs together want to be epic and poetic, but the lyrics just don't cut it, and the orchestration isn't different enough to get a reaction. Serenade, Rulers, The One, and One More Song all sound the same. Serenade, channels Bright Eyes and One More Song, has a quiet moment that makes it sound like two songs in one, but none have even a smidgen of excitement.

The last two songs on the album seem to be the first point at which Jonas Carping felt comfortable experimenting - though even they aren't quite enough to pull All the Time in the World out of its funk of depressive monotony. Sideways, is not exactly inspired, but with rhythms that match the song's lyrics and strings that pick up the melody, it is at least a change. All the Time in the World wraps up with Leaving Now, a track with a 90s-style chord progression, a djembe at its opening, and the strongest vocals since Left in Here.

While the emotion behind All the Time in the World is clear, it's repeated in every song. There isn't enough variety - or enough of an arc - to make it enjoyable, and the similar sentiment combined with similar orchestration make it painful to hear.

All the Time in the World is out now!

Best Tracks:

• Left in Here