BELA - CD TIL SUMMER ENDS

Popis - TIL SUMMER ENDS:
*** 1/2 Bela, 'Till Summer Ends (Mother West) Most bands who travel the dark corridors of the soul have had a hard time defining their own space with in the castle of artsy gloom rock. Especially those from Manhattan, where Lou and crew's Velvet Underground created an enduring template for such music with their biting guitars and cello and cynic-eye view of the demi monde and the inner life. What sets the east village-based quartet Bela, whose name and mood draw on both Lugosi and Bartok, apart is the way they put a little more movement in their chord progressions, giving ex-Rasputina cellest Julia Kent a base for more expansive melodies. And there's an undeniably poetic allure to frontman Jeff Hogan's lyrics. But what makes Bela pop is Hogan's brilliant flourish for vocal harmonies. It's right out of the Hollies cannon - if the Hollies were depressives. So heartaches and hauntedpsyches rarely sound sweet as in these 14 tunes. -Ted Drozdowski / The Boston Phoenix