Entry 063 - Green Carnation - The Acoustic Verses

 

Guitar, vocals, violin. This is the core ingredients of The Acoustic Verses. There are other instruments that come into play: percussion, cello, clarinet, piano - but they are not nearly as prominent as the vocals and guitar.

This vinyl release contains both the Acoustic Verses album proper as well as the Six Ribbons EP that was released immediately before so many years ago. The songs are interwoven to make this sound like a complete release rather than segregating the two.

This album contains some of the very best songs that Green Carnation ever wrote, especially Transparent Me and 9-29-045. Those two alone are worth the cost of entry.

There are a couple of songs on here though that I just cannot get into - even after dozens of listens. High Tide Waves and Maybe? ultimately fall short compared to the rest of the album. They are fine for what they are, but they do not touch the same emotional highs that the other songs.

The true highlight of this release are Kjetil's vocals. They are emotive and filled with grief throughout the entire release, probably his best work in this band or otherwise.

This release is a far cry from the band's early works but you can still tell this is Green Carnation. Despite the songs that I just cannot seem to get into this album (especially with the EP) is among some of the best work that the band released.