The Drama Mine- Darkness Stays

ARTIST: The Drama Mine
ALBUM: Darkness Stays...
LABEL: Halo Goodbye Records
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE:  10-27-07

Almost overwhelming in its eclecticism, Edward R. Palmer's musical project, The Drama Mine, is so ambitious you can't help but be impressed by it. Palmer's songs range from psychedelia to synthpop, incorporating so much eccentric creativity that it's easy to overlook this album's faults. "Just Before Dawn" opens things with acid trip ambience and eerie flutes in the vein of early Current 93, but then "Girl on Fire" takes things in a different direction with strummed guitars and looping analog synthesizers in the vein of the Legendary Pink Dots. Imaginatively titled third track "Song Three" is like Radiohead without the fancy production, starting off with moping drawn-out vocals and brooding pianos before building into a slow crescendo of feedback that sees Palmer's voice becoming ever rawer. "Echo of a Ghost on Boy" is perhaps the album's best intriguing offering, with Palmer crooning like Perry Farrell (in other words, he sounds crazy and kind of nasal) over more melodic background vocals, and "Through Moth Wings" strips things down to quietly moody pianos. This is at once gloriously chaotic and fascinatingly morose, with Palmer's often oblique lyrics adding to the intrigue; the album itself, for example, has the subtitle of "Even When 36 is 8 and the Sun Is Born, All Is Now." The only problem is that Palmer's creativity at times outpaces his abilities. The tinny drum machine on "Blood Orange" in particular gives a distinct amateurish quality to an otherwise solid pop song, and the synthpop elements on "Rose Red" sound dated, which isn't necessarily a bad thing except for the fact that it doesn't quite fit with the vibe on the rest of the album. Get Palmer a live drummer and maybe a bass player, or even just some higher-end recording equipment, and there's no telling what he could come up with.

Visit Edward R. Palmer on MySpace at www.myspace.com/thedramamine.