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"Society of Imaginary Friends songs are way beyond brilliant, truly
outstanding material." Mike Pearlstein - The Big Takeover magazine, New York.
- Alfie Thomas
(Accordion/composer)
- Chris Brierley
(Violin)
- Louise Kleboe
(Vocals)
- Visits: 10058
- Listens: 1750
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Blog
Review on Planet Sound Channel 4
29/07/2008 12:03:46 By
Society Of Imaginary Friends/ Sadness Is A Bridge To Love
In a similar vein to the supernatural calm of Antony And The Johnsons, this is both ominous and poetic.
Based around an operatic vocal and an ambient orchestra, it offers the kind of surreal beauty that Stanley Kubrick would have given his beard for.
From the blinding rush of The Moors to the grand death march of Night Of Power, it's a remarkable experience that will leave you in goosebumps. 8/10
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Review on God Is In The Tv zine
30/05/2008 15:45:19 By
Society Of Imaginary Friends - Sadness Is A Bridge To Love (Soif)
Owain Paciuszko
The debut album from SOIF opens with a strange and eerie echo of accordian, a tremulous string swell and the near operatic voice of Louise Kleboe. They are, on the one hand, a band, but on the other, this is so much closer to classical music - moreso even than the grand orchestral works of bands such as Sigur Ros. This is experimental and avant-garde in a love-it-or-hate-it kind of way. What is clear though, from the off, is that this is intelligently and passionately arranged music with a surreal, art-house cinematic bent. There's both a richness and a sparsity to the sound, it's drenched in a wealth of atmosphere whilst feeling oddly performance based; like an performance art piece. It's an album of conflict and contrast, and that could be where it draws its greatest plaudits and detractors.
To continue the cinematic comparison, and imagine this is a term you may hear a fair bit in reference to their music, it's definitely David Lynchian - occupying a hauntingly dreamlike space that has the power to both enthrall and confound. The band themselves have worked with a host of film directors and the importance placed upon the visual and aristic perception of their work is not lost upon them. The music itself is very evocative and feeds the imagination of the listener; lyrically the songs seem to also occupy that middleground between sleeping and wakefulness and the album forges into a rather surreal piece of pseudo-aural-theatre, so potent is its imagery that you feel like you are experiencing a multimedia installation even when just listening to the songs alone.
This is a strange album, it's a beautiful and accomplished piece that blurs lines between genre and perception, it's both hauntingly retrospective but distinctly modern ('For Those Online' speaks of Facebook!), it feels like an alternative and baffling soundtrack to this contemporary world. Though this is not for everyone it is an amazing, weird and exceptional piece of work.
Society Of Imaginary Friends Myspace
25/05/2008
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Debut Album will be available on Indiestore End of November 2007
11/11/2007 18:53:26 By Society of Imaginary Friends.
Society of Imaginary Friends Debut Album 'Sadness is a bridge to Love.' available from indiestore end of November 2007.
Society Of Imaginary Friends
'sadness is a bridge to love'
This debut is the work of a mighty trio
of wicked talents: Louise Kleboe, Alfie Thomas and Chris Brierley (all of whom, are also mainstays in the always brilliant
Band Of Holy Joy) SOIF is an entirely different prospect,but no less thrilling. Louise Kleboe's opera-based vocals just have to be heard to
be believed. Louise' singing is utterly singular; one of the most beautiful voices you'll ever experience. Alfie Thomas' rabid accordion workouts add extreme vibrancy
and heft, while the spectral fury of Brierley's violin makes the whole affair
wondrously surreal. This is dark, yet amazingly uplifting music. Quite a balancing act.
Don't miss out on this. As unique and special as the craft of music-making gets - Mike Pearlstein The Big Takeover Magazine- New York -issue 61.
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Gig Review by Jed Dmochowski.
11/11/2007 18:50:22 By Society of Imaginary Friends.
Review of our band Society of Imaginary Friends by Jed Dmochowski after he saw us play live at Bartok, 79 Chalk Farm Road, Camden, London on 24th January 2007..
A mesmeric swirl, a chug of violin, and, after a while, a voice. Societyofimaginaryfriends
welcome their audience as friends, and their music proves that such a greeting
is not accidental. It is a mixture of the abstract and the intimate, a battle
between softness and discomfort. Alfie Thomas struggles with his accordion
as though it were some kind of sea-beast; he moves like a lizard, trying
to make the power of the music's force sweet; an ecstatic abandonment, a
peacock swirling in the depths. Chris Brierley's violin pushes, shapes and defines
the rhythm, his association with Michael Nyman and references to Café
Peguin supporting and honing the sound, sharpening its penetration and
then
there's Louise Kleboe, whose soulful vocal authority grounds the songs in an unmistakably
vulnerable humanity, telling tales of the everyday as though each experience
is an adventure, a trap, a chance for reconciliation.
The songs range from electronic psycho-nightmares to more traditional sounding
celtic ballads. My favourite was 'The Moors', a story of bleakness
and trial, sweet and difficult. At times the music is stripped right down,
as in the song 'Going Home',
>but still the impression is powerful, and, more than anything I suppose,
genuine.
Society of imaginary friends are very, very good. Intelligent and open, there's humour here too. I'm very glad I went along to the Bartok on a cold and bleak
January evening; its warmth will stay with me for a long time.
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