Exit Mould

Album Review

The blurry-eyed mope rock of Pale Forest is a bizarre combination of styles. With vocals that would sound natural on a Cardigans album, music that runs the gamut from Bettie Serveert gentleness to Gathering-style goth metal, and lyrics straight from the Juliana Hatfield school of cute, Pale Forest combines many unlikely elements to produce a satisfying album. Exit Mould rests almost solely on the delicate, charismatic vocals of Kristin Fjellseth. It is her voice that ties together the many elements that make the band work; any other vocalist would probably make the band sound dull and uninspired. But she skates along the melodies provided by the band effortlessly, peeking her head into the songs and sprinkling her vocals over the sparse instrumentation. The music itself is quite nice, finding a middle ground between the lush guitar workouts of Ride and the sparse soundscapes of Codeine. The results are a wonderful album that proves that the best surprises usually come from the most unexpected places.