Eerie Sounds Section : Tiffany Apan – “Poet” (2008)

Label : Shinto Records

Review by Mortuai

Try as I might to be impartial, I find myself slightly biased about “Poet”, the debut release from Pennsylvania native Tiffany Apan. On the one hand, I’m still a bit miffed about the fact Tiffany was supposed to be one of the participants on the “Ferocity and Feminitity” compilation but never got around to sending her contribution. On the other hand, those familiar with my tastes (or lack thereof) know full well I am a self-confessed fan of the bizarre in motion pictures, and due to this, her role in Troma Films’ “Meat For Satan’s Icebox” (no, seriously, that’s the name of the film) definitely qualifies her to catch a break or two from me, so it all evens out and I’m back to where I should have started in the first place. While it may be a bit of a stretch to call the model/actress/singer’s album a metal release, it certainly is an interesting, if somewhat uneven, listen. Apan‘s modeling career seems to focus on gothic imagery, and that particular imagery carries over very well into her music, her smooth, melancholic, semi-operatic vocals blending effectively with the everything-else-in-the-band instrumental work of her co-writer Jason English. Vocally, Tiffany reminds me a bit of Sarah Brightman, a touch of Lana Lane and perhaps just a tiny hint of Stefanie Duchêne, though at no point does she sound like a clone of anyone else. Musically, atmosphere is the name of the game here and “Poet” positively drips with it, plenty of stylistic variety on display but every track conjuring up dark soundscapes which are at times classically beautiful and at other moments disturbingly discordant…sometimes both within the course of the same song.  Cuts like piano-driven opener “Ghost” (which works much better than the guitar-soaked remix version of the same track included a bit later in the disc), the meditative “Destiny’s Path” and the effects-and-dark riff-laden “Ashes to Dust” are excellent songs but other tracks like the lurching, Middle-Eastern-meets-Celtic “Black Forest” don’t seem to trigger much more in the listener than confusion. Oddly enough, my two favorite tracks on the album are the two cover tunes – one a superb dark-tinged version of traditional folk tune “Scarborough Fair” (made most famous, of course, by Simon and Garfunkel) and the other a heavily Patsy Cline-influenced tune originally performed by Apan‘s grandparents in the late 50’s and early 60’s, a track which may seem to the casual listener to be very much out of place in a hard rock release yet somehow fits in here almost perfectly. “Poet” is not for everyone – listeners who may be looking for something a bit more aggressive and metallic or something a bit more commercially viable will doubtless be somewhat disappointed by the generally slow pace and often experimental nature of the music.  Fans of gothic rock who appreciate moody melodic vocals should definitely snap this one up though, as it is highly enjoyable for those who have enough of an open mind to appreciate what it has to offer..