It was five years ago today that Transport Aerian released his most ambitious album to date, DARKBLUE the bands’ 5th studio release and the follow up to the digital-only release Love.Blood.Live (2014). The album features eight bold new songs including fan-favorite “Happy With The Future” the album made its official debut on May 1st, 2015 at RoSfest in Gettysburg Pennsylvania.
In a statement by Hamlet, DARKBLUE is drastically, incomparably different from my previous recording experiences and then my previous album, which essentially brought me back into existence as an artistic power and opened plenty of horizons that await to be engaged.
Unlike Bleeding, which was mostly but a set of songs, bound together by one mood, or rather, by a desperate need to shout in the desert in the hope to hear some echoes. DARKBLUE is a conceptual album. It’s not merely a set of songs bound with the same emotional state, which I did on the previous releases, rather, it is the one-piece musical diary that tells the surreal love story, which is being recited throughout the album’s temporal and spatial space from the face of two main characters. This makes the album not only essentially different as it does have a plot and the storyline, but it also makes it different on the way it is constructed, as it has no songs, it has one piece to comprehend entirely.
I am aware that this approach, however, most likely murders the album as a commercial effort. I am not only aware of that, but I’m also absolutely happy and conscious about that decision, because I dedicate what I’m doing to those who are willing to hear, and willing to participate and share the energy of music with me. I do not try to knock on the deaf and blind shut door of the mainstream media, stage, or genre-oriented or utterly tasteless auditorium.
DARKBLUE is a story-telling album, and it has two main characters, one of which, a lonesome and broken exile — is represented by myself, and the other – by the very special guest singer, whose participation made this album very special sound and energy-wise, but whose identity I will keep in secret until the later date.
I strongly believe that the album is not a set of songs, rather its an artwork, a package, a physical artifact that you’d find pleasant to hold in your hands.
A Critics Point of View
Buy this album. You will not find anything else like Transport Aerian’s ‘DARKBLUE’ this year, or any year, really. Hamlet has managed to best even his incredible live album by creating real texture, very human relatability, and haunting musical atmospheres. Give into the darkness.
Review by Second Life Syndrome 4.5 stars
progulator.com
On July 2nd, 2015 Darkblue was voted in the Top 10 albums of the first six months of 2015
With his signature style, thoughtful philosophizing, and improved musical chops, Hamlet’s new solo album is his best yet.
by the Progmind
https://theprogmind.com/2015/07/02/top-10-albums-for-2015-the-first-six-months/
This album for sure is what the title suggests, dark, but not pitch black (although Jim Morrison’s work with The Doors is almost white compared to this). The music is haunting and minimalistic (Sand Horizon), experimental at times (Black), leaning towards industrial in places (Full Body Access) while building almost psychedelic soundscapes in others (Epitaph) – and then there is something close to hard rock or metal as well (Crossbreed).
– Angelo’s Rock Orphanage
Track-listing
1. Black (04:40)
2. Full Body Access (04:15)
3. Sand Horizon (04:50)
4. Imperial (05:34)
5. Crossbreed (03:17)
6. Sniper (03:51)
7. Epitaph (08:06)8. Happy With The Future (06:12)
DARKBLUE Lineup
Hamlet – Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Bass, Sampling and Programming.
Rachel Bauer – Singer & Narrator.
Music, Lyrics: and Concept by Hamlet
Recorded in 2014: Leuven, Belgium
Production, Engineering, Mixing, and Mastering: Hamlet
Artwork and illustrations by Jess Telmatt and Rachel Bauer.
Transport Aerian Online
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Melodic Revolution Records Online
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