CD Review: Anton Sword - A Sentimental Education

Anton Sword - A Sentimental Education
2007, Anton Sword

Sometimes a record can move you to different places and times. It happens in a mood or a well-placed hook or the tone and timbre of a passage. Anton Sword is good at invoking time and place in his music. The time is the late 1980's, the place is a basement in the suburbs where vaguely displaced teens hang out and listen to Robert Smith & The Cure or some other mildly depressed but incredibly talented band. A Sentimental Education draws heavily on that 1980's new wave/goth vibe, yet weaves influences as disparate as 1970's keyboard work and even some electronic enhancements straight out of the Fax catalog.

A Sentimental Education is dark and scintillating and full of texture imbued with an anachronistic melancholy. Anton Sword is a storyteller with an artist's ear for music, constructing these vast musical landscapes against which his bard's tales are told. My personal favorite here is Behind The Scarlet Curtain, with Liquefy a close second. Many of the songs here segue one into the other almost like an epic tale made of smaller stories. The overall effect is very entertaining yet mellow.

The musicianship here is outstanding. The production values are minimalist and highly appropriate for the music. The music speaks for itself here in the ultimate act of artistic bravery. It works. Support Anton Sword by checking out his music and buying a CD. Early returns seem to indicate that you will be rewarded by a long association with Anton Sword.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Anton Sword at www.antonsword.com. You can purchase a copy of A Sentimental Education at www.cdbaby.com/antonsword.